Soulfrenzy
by Kuann
Summary: The Teen Titans are faced by a new, more dangerous threat than ever before - but is it truly an enemy? Featuring an all-new hero and the return of a familiar villain, the Titans will face adversity like they never have before - and they may not be so teenaged by the time they overcome it.
1. 1: Birth

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 1 - Birth**

"Friggin' cold..."

Jimmy cursed the night's chill, rubbing his hands together in a vain attempt to warm them. The forest was silent; the pine trees seemed like black towers in the darkness, rising ominously around him as he struggled to build the campfire.

"How's that fire comin'?" Ryan asked, his deep voice emanating from the lamp-heated tent. Jimmy glanced enviously at its softly-glowing shape, where he knew his friend and the girls where comfortably snuggled. He should never have accepted that truth or dare game, he always lost.

"About as well as my body heat," he grumbled back. "Why can't we just stay in the tent? It's warmer in there anyway!"

"We're camping!" Kelly replied in her obnoxious, valley-girl voice. "You can't camp without a campfire!"

"Easy for you to say..." Jimmy muttered, too low for her to hear. "You've never made one..."

It was the middle of summer, but the temperature had dropped to almost forty. What had started as the perfect summer day was now one of the coldest nights Jump City had on record. Weird, unexpected, and inconvenient, but Ryan had insisted that their camping trip go as planned. Jimmy pulled his vest tighter and made another go at the pile of kindling he had meticulously arranged.

"Come on..." he whispered, lighting another match. "Give me fire..."

_BOOOM!_

The entire clearing suddenly blazed with blue light, as if lightning was flashing three feet away. The sound was accompanied by a concussive wave that sent Jimmy flying head over heels into a tree.

"Gyah!" he yelped, curling into a ball to combat the throbbing pain in his back and head. He thought he heard the vague, high-pitched noise of the girls screaming. There was still light everywhere, blinding him through closed lids.

"Fuck! Jim! JIM!"

He opened his eyes. The vague, towering form of Ryan was running over to him. He could only see the outline, however, because all the trees were wreathed in blue fire. The bright light made his head hurt, but he couldn't help but stare in dazed shock.

"Jim, what the hell is happening?" Ryan asked. Jimmy looked past him to see Kelly and Nikki fumbling about the flattened tent, trying to pull their jackets away from a fire. The lamp must have burst into flames, because these were red. Nikki might have been crying, but his eyes weren't adjusted enough to tell.

"Jim, look at me!" Ryan shouted. His voice was distant, muffled from the sonic boom.

"I dunno, man!" Jimmy snapped hysterically. There was no smoke anywhere; it looked like the trees were just dissolving. "We gotta get out of here! We gotta get help!"

Ryan nodded. He looked so strong, so imposing, radiating authority. Jimmy grabbed his hand and made his best attempt to get up.

Then he saw it. A shape, moving through the flaming trees.

"Holy sh-"

A roar reverberated through the air, shaking his bones. Some trees, weakened already by the flames, toppled over. A massive pine collapsed into the clearing, blocking them off from the girls.

"NIKKI! KELLY!" Ryan yelled, reaching out for them. Jimmy ignored him, looking every which way to see where _it_ had gone.

"Ryan, we gotta get out of here!" he shouted, reaching for his friend's shoulder.

"No way! We can't leave 'em here!" Ryan shook him off. "Go wherever the hell you want, I'm saving-"

A flash of blue light passed before Jimmy's eyes, and Ryan was gone. He screamed at the top of his lungs, stumbling backward and falling. He looked everywhere, but he couldn't see where Ryan had been taken.

"Ryan!" he yelled out, voice cracking pathetically. "Ryan!"

Then it came again. Further away now, Jimmy saw a humanoid figure leap down into the center of the clearing, right in front of the girls. They both screamed. Jimmy couldn't make out the details of their attacker, but it was on fire like everything else. Kelly turned to run, but the creature raised a single claw and cut her down.

Jimmy didn't get to see what happened to Nikki; he was already sprinting into the woods. Flames were everywhere around him, but he felt no heat. He ran until he saw their edge. Blackness was all that lied beyond, but it failed to frighten him half as much as the alternative.

He'd almost made it when a sheet of blue light flew down right in front of him. He charged straight into it; his face went numb, and he felt the palms of his hands painlessly melt away. He looked up in horror at what had stopped him. A creature with the torso of a man and legs of a beast stood over him. Its face was some sort of nightmare, with white eyes and flaming horns sprouting from its head. Everything on it burned bright blue.

"NOOOOOO!" he screamed, tears streaming from his eyes. The scream was lost as the creature unhinged its toothed jaw and roared, releasing a torrent of fire onto him.


	2. 2: Scene of the Crime

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 2 – Scene of the Crime**

Robin frowned. The scene was morbid, even on the scale of what he'd seen before; the Joker wouldn't have been capable of this.

Three bodies – including the one split in half – were strewn about the forest clearing. Two of them were female, though an untrained eye wouldn't have been able to tell. All of the bodies were mutilated beyond recognition; their flesh just seemed to be _missing_. Warped bones protruded from faces that had dissolved away. The split body – whose halves lied at opposite ends of the clearing – was deformed even more. It was unlike any weapon he had ever seen, or even heard of.

The rest of the "crime scene" - though perhaps disaster zone would have been more apt – was covered with fallen trees that had been eaten away in a similar manner. Had the scintillation probes not come back negative, he could have even assumed a small-scale nuclear attack. The idea of someone like Neutron parading around Jump City didn't please him, but at least it would have been a lead.

"Don't feel bad," Raven said, moving to stand beside him. "The police are just as stumped as you are."

Robin glanced at the squads of officers and forensic scientists examining the scene. He'd almost forgotten they were there. At least they provided an occupation for Starfire and Beast Boy, who both seemed a shade too pale right now.

"That doesn't exactly make me feel _better_," he replied, though he knew she was aware of that. "Usually, we're gone by the time they show up. I don't like sitting here like a..."

"Civilian?" Raven glanced up at him. "Robin, not every case is easy."

Robin glanced downward, trying to focus on alternatives.

"Do you feel any mystical residues from any of this?"

"Not exactly... it's not magic, like my powers are." She pulled her hood back, brow knitted in focus. "But the entire area is covered in pulsing, latent energy. Whatever did this, it had a lot of power."

"Atomic Skull? Overload?"

"Their powers aren't the same. That's electric, or genetic... scientific. I wouldn't be able to sense that." She gave him a sidelong glance. "Whatever this was, it was halfway between that and mystic. It's just... raw energy."

She seemed calm, but he knew her well enough to tell that the mystery was bothering her.

"What do you think happened here?"

Cyborg approached them, a radar dish protruding from his wrist. As he spoke, the dish collapsed together and withdrew into his arm.

"I'm not sure," Robin replied. "I assume you didn't get any readings?"

"Actually, I did." Cyborg glanced at the surrounding police officers, assuring himself that they were out of earshot. At a glance, Robin could see that Starfire was readily occupying them. She was always chatty when anxious.

"The energy readings here are off the charts. My scintillation counter shows everything is hot, but it can't identify the any wavelengths of radiation."

Robin frowned, exchanging glances with Raven. Cyborg arched a metallic eyebrow.

"What, you found somethin' else?"

"Raven picked up the same energy feedback. Whatever this thing is, it left fallout that both of you can sense."

"Check if B.B. can get a scent."

Suddenly, a fly buzzing through their airspace expanded to a massive size, forming itself into a fully-fledged Garfield Logan.

"Already tried," Beast Boy reported. "I got nothin.' I tried looking for other small animals in the area, but I couldn't find those, either." He shivered; Robin could see goose bumps on his green skin. "This place is _way_ creepy."

Robin touched his fingers to his chin in thought. He had never seen anything like this before, both in morbidity and mystique. What could possibly scare away all life in the forest for this long, and put off mystic _and_ radioactive readings?

"I would wish to be alerted of future meetings of the group," Starfire interjected, gently floating down to earth beside him. "Though the officers of police are quite pleasant, they are not terribly informative to the cause of such..." Her green-tinged eyes wandered about the scene for a moment. "...carnage."

Raven glanced at Robin, but he missed it. His mind as running in loops; the information available here was insufficient.

"We need to get back to the tower," he said, turning to Raven. "Can you get us a portal back?"

"Of course, but-"

"Would it not be better to fly back, as we do most always?" Starfire asked, perhaps a bit too earnestly. "I do not see a need to tax friend Raven, and I wish to relieve the pervasive atmosphere of this scene of crime with a bout of joyous flight!"

"Sorry, but I have to get to the Evidence Room while the information is still fresh in my head." He looked back at Raven and nodded.

Though he could not see it, the look of disappointment on Starfire's face was palpable. To her credit, she hid it quickly, though she was never quite fast enough to escape Raven's notice.

"Let's hurry, Raven. I have the feeling this case is going to... take awhile." Robin nodded at one of the officers, who seemed to know well enough to trust them. Raven stifled a brief sigh and incanted her mantra, briefly opening a loop in space. Robin was the first to step through, followed by Cyborg and Beast Boy. Starfire hesitated, glancing skyward, but she ultimately followed as well.

_He and I need to talk_, Raven decided, closing the portal behind her.


	3. 3: Woes

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 3 – Woes**

"NOOOOOooooo!" Beast Boy cried, slouching into the couch's seat cushions and staring at the ceiling of Titans' Tower. "Dude, when did you get so good at this game?"

Cyborg stood triumphantly before the flashing "VICTORY: CYBORG" displayed on the plasma-screen TV, grinning all the while.

"I didn't get better; you were just never good." He patted the moping boy's green hair with a grin before departing for the refrigerator. He had never forgotten the salami-bacon-cheese sub he'd stashed away in there, waiting to be reheated. _Victory never tasted so good..._

Just as he knelt down to open the unit's door, however, his infrared sensors picked up a signal moving in the hallway beyond. He looked up just in time to see Starfire drifting slowly across the doorway before vanishing down the corridor, her head downcast.

"I demand a rematch!"

Cyborg glanced back at the refrigerator. Beast Boy was standing on it with his arms folded. Red tinged the tips of his ears even through his green skin.

"Sorry, B.B... maybe in a few. I have to go grab somethin.'"

He turned to follow her, but Beast Boy jumped into his path again.

"No way dude! I'm not letting you get off that easy!"

"Not now, man," Cyborg replied, more firmly this time. Beast Boy paused, then allowed him to pass.

"Alright, fine..." he murmured, watching his friend depart with mild bemusement.

* * *

Starfire watched the carpet pass fluidly beneath her as she floated down the familiar corridor. Her mind drifted to this and that, but she always managed, against her will, to restart her thoughts about him. The last few months had changed something about them, but she wasn't sure what it was.

_Oh..._ she thought, frowning slightly. _This is not what I expected it to be like at all..._

Without warning, she floated gently to the ground. She gasped quietly to herself, surprised to feel the floor's sudden firmness, but the will to fly could not be summoned again. A sudden, brief wave of despair washed over her, and she placed her face into the palms of her hands.

"Is everything alright, Star?"

She gasped in surprise, wheeling about to see Cyborg standing down the hall. As he approached, she saw the concern written on his face.

"Of course, friend Cyborg!" she replied hastily, plastering on her brightest smile. "I am having a day of joys and wonders! And are you yourself not well?"

"I'm fine," he replied, the uncertainty in his voice apparent. "Gettin' over the crime scene today... but I think that one even bothered Raven."

Starfire shuddered at the thought of the half-exposed skeletons, their jaws agape in a silent scream.

"Yes... it bothered Robin as well..."

"Is that what's got you so worked up?" he asked. Starfire instinctually widened her plastic smile.

"Oh no, not at all! It was nothing compared to the carnage of the Battle of Zorgyork, I assure you! I am walking on the sunshine!"

He frowned.

"Star, I built this tower, do my own nanotech repairs, and retrofitted the T-Ship to fly in outer space. I think I'm smart enough to see when you're feelin' down."

Starfire sighed, bringing a hand to her left arm.

"Then no, everything is not alright, and I am afraid the sunshine is not mine to walk upon." Her fiery hair bounced as she hung her head; she suddenly looked as if she'd been awake for days.

"What is it, Star?"

The alien swallowed once and looked out the window to the bay beyond. The sun was shining on the water, casting a patterned glow on the two of them. Her expression was reluctant at first.

"It is... Robin and me. When our... relationship... began in Tokyo, I was overjoyed. Sometimes I would find myself floating above my bed at night, wakened from happy dreams of florgleborks and the kisses." Her face reddened, but she smiled more genuinely at the thought. "But a few weeks after we returned to Jump City, Robin began to act... differently. He no longer seems to notice me, and he has disappeared into his Room of Evidence for long periods of time without letting me in. I was not sure if I was the only one to notice this, but I did not say anything for fear of being the... 'clingy girlfriend.'" She cast her eyes down at her feet. He'd seen her in the heat of battle a thousand times; it still amazed him how vulnerable she could look.

"Aw... Starfire..." he took a few steps toward her and placed one large, metallic hand on her shoulder. "You've gotta say something."

"No!" She suddenly looked up at him pleadingly. "You must not say anything to Robin! If he is troubled by something, it is important. I do not wish for him to be disturbed over me."

"Star, you're his girlfriend." He gave her a stern gaze. "You're the important thing he should be troubled about."


	4. 4: Fear

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 4 – Fear**

All he could hear was the sound of his own breathing.

The young man threw the manhole cover aside. Light flooded his eyes and blinded him, but he kept moving, feeling his way along the alleyway into which he emerged. He had to keep going, to get out of here. It was coming.

His eyes began to adjust, but the throbbing in his head did not subside. Foul smells from below continued to plague his senses. It was noisy up here, too – the sounds of mechanical beeps and honks disoriented him. They seemed familiar somehow, buried in the deepest recesses of his memory, but all he could focus on was the irritation they caused.

Shapes slowly formed from the brightness – dark, soaring walls rose up on either side of him. A few blinking silhouettes passed by the light between them. There was a blue sky above.

No, not blue. Anything but that...

A pile of trash cans – how did he know what they were? - came from his side before he noticed them, and he collided with the foul-smelling heap. Nauseating odors washed over him as he fell amongst the trash bags. Their scent made the pounding in his head increase, the fire in his veins flare.

_NO! It's coming!_

He struggled to rise, but his muscles were so tense that he froze in a hunched crouch, like a cat stretching from a nap. Sweat coated his face. A lock of white hair fell across his face. Beeps and honks. The pounding of his heart. Lights whirling around him...

He had only an instant. Something brushed against his consciousness through the clamor. It was cool, dark, alive. It would hear him.

_HEEEEEEEELLLLLLP!_

The city echoed with a roar. It had arrived.

* * *

Raven let the breezes of Jump City wash over her as she soared amongst the sky scrapers. In her soul form, few people could notice her without being close. The black, bird-shaped specter rose a dozen feet or so to evade a skyscraper needle. She needed to think, and to be alone.

_Robin and Starfire..._ She had been feeling the pair's emotional vibrations for weeks now, slowly growing more obvious and irritating. She had attempted to filter it out and let them sort it through, but if there was anything that they were not doing, it was sorting. The stress Robin was radiating was of a different sort than Starfire's, to the point that he had been excluding her. It was only a matter of time before it began to affect the team's function. More importantly, it would soon drive her insane.

She had to say something to Robin. Starfire was already too aware of what was going on, in a sense.

_I hate couples._

_HEEEEEEEELLLLLLP!_

The cry resounded like a sonic boom through her thoughts, carrying overwhelming intensity and fear. She dropped several yards and almost flew into a building.

_What was-_

The cry had not faded completely before an onslaught of images forced their way into her mind. A demonic face lunged toward her, then split open to a writhing human figure before being engulfed in blue fire. Raven fought the visions, but their strength was primal. She felt herself falling, falling...

* * *

"NO!"

Raven opened her eyes; she was in her room. The dimness was filled with flashing red pulses, whirling before her eyes. Only when she hit the ground with jarring force did she realize that she had simply been falling from her meditation position.

She suddenly remembered to breath. Lying there, paralyzed, she felt the unfamiliar onset of panic.

_What is going on? What was that? Was I dreaming?_

The siren by her door rang again. Raven clenched her teeth to contain her emotions, but the noise wasn't helping.

_STOP!_

Energy coated the siren, and it exploded, along with the various candles in her abode. She sat in the silence for a few seconds, alone with the sound of her breathing. Only when she had a moment of calm did she recall what had happened.

She was meditating, flying through Jump City in her soul form. It hadn't been a dream at all; it was the real world. And that meant whatever had contacted her was very real, and very strong.

"Raven!" Beast Boy yelled through the door, pounding it with his fist. "Get out of there! There's something going on on Main Street!"

She was at the door in a heartbeat – easily measurable, considering hers was pounding.

"I know," she said quickly, too concerned to be annoyed with him. Besides, he'd been acting more or less seriously these days.

Too slow on foot, she resorted to flying down the hall. She had more than one reason to suspect that their killer in the forest was about to make his or her big debut, and it had something to do with the mental contact she had received. Whatever that message meant, one thing was certain: she did not envy its sender.


	5. 5: Evidence

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 5 – Evidence**

_It doesn't make any sense!_

Robin crushed the page of notes in his fist and hurled it against the wall. He had been hoping that the new case would take his mind off things, but it had the same number of leads as his other project: zero.

_What goes into the forest late at night, vaporizes four teenagers, and then vanishes without a trace?_

He collapsed into his chair, looking about the Evidence Room's gray interior. Newspaper clippings, CIA files, masks and evidence – it all coated the otherwise bare walls, watching his every move. All of the villains they had caught, all the crimes they had solved were here – except one. Or two, now that he thought about it.

Slade was peering at him from a dimly-lit corner. It was an old image, a fuzzy, captured still that Robin had caught on a camera embedded in his suit, but still enough to taunt him. He couldn't forget what Beast Boy had admitted two months ago...

"_What happened, Beast Boy?" Robin asked, folding his arms. They had just returned from disposing of the shape-shifting android, its many shards all stored in separate, well-secured containers for future analysis. He wasn't going to argue that Beast Boy's arrival had not been instrumental in its defeat, but it could have happened much sooner, and with much less collateral damage, if he had answered the call in the first place. He just hoped it didn't have something to do with Terra's ghost._

"_I told you, I went looking for Terra and I got side-tracked," Beast Boy said. Bingo. Of course it had to be that._

"_Beast Boy, the fight caused seven million dollars in collateral damage! Seven million you could have-"_

"_Prevented, I know!" he snapped back. "I know, and I learned my lesson. I won't go looking for her anymore."_

_He turned his eyes down at his feet. The soft humming of the sick bay's machinery around them was the only sound. It was for just that seclusion that Robin had decided to speak with him here._

"_Beast Boy... what really happened?"_

_The green boy looked up at him. He was serious like he never had been before._

"_I went to the park that Terra and I used to go to. While I was there... I got attacked." His brow knitted together, as if he had to force himself to speak. "Robin... it was one of Slade's fighter drones. He's back. He's gotta be."_

Since that day, he had barely rested, socialized, or even let his guard down. Slade was back. He had grilled Beast Boy for days on details, visited that abandoned park several times, even interrogated imprisoned inmates. But, for all his experience with the masked villain, he got what he usually got.

Nothing.

And now there was this... murder. Dissolved teenagers. Pockmarked earth. Misshapen trees. None of it was anything like he'd ever seen, and what was worse, the crime scene itself had no leads.

Robin stood and walked to the touchpad embedded on the far wall, his boots clacking metallically as he walked. He touched the screen, and it jolted to life.

"_Welcome... User ID: Robin..." _The computer droned out each button push. "_Accessing: Forest Camera 3. Date: July 21. Time: 11:30 P.M..."_

A dim, infrared image of trees and soft heat radiation fluttered into being. The forest was mostly still, save for the sound of voices in the background. A small glow was emanating from beyond the left side of the screen, indicating the position of the campers.

"How's that fire comin'?"

"About as well as my body heat out here. Why can't we just stay in the tent? It's warmer in there anyway!"

Robin toned them out as well as he could. It didn't go unnoticed that these were the same people whose skeletons now adorned the Jump City Police Department's autopsy lab, but he'd seen this video a dozen times. It was time to search for details.

""We're camping! You can't camp without a campfire!"

He scanned the image for temperature abnormalities, but all he could see were the latent signatures of the victims. If they'd been approached by an attacker, he should have seen it.

There was some unintelligible muttering, then it happened. The camera surged with light that flooded down from above. There was a wave of blue, then-

Static. Robin sighed and shut the monitor off. This footage was as good as useless. Everything was as good as useless... he was chasing ghosts. He had no idea how Bruce did it.

_No. You can't call him. You've always figured it out on your own._

A wave of anger rose over him, and he spun about to punch the wall. His fist landed with a _clang_, resounding through the soundproof walls like a gong. He stood like that for awhile, his fist crushing one of the newspaper clippings. It took him a moment to see the heading of it:

"_Teen Titans Crush Foreign Criminal: Justice Reigns From Jump City to Tokyo"_

He slowly lifted his hand from the crumpled paper, revealing the photo of a very familiar scene. The entire team was standing on a stage before a huge audience, confetti streaming through the air as they waved to the public. Of all the pictures that had been taken of the team, he had kept this one. It was a busy image, but he spotted it as quickly as ever. There, off to the side, was a pair of teenagers, one dressed in purple with long red hair, and the other with a white mask and black cape. It was harder to make out than usual; his knuckle had crumpled their depiction. But he could still see them holding hands, smiling.

_Starfire...?_

_BWEEEP! BWEEEP!_

Robin jumped slightly at the noise of the siren. The touchpad immediately flared back to life, broadcasting straight from the scene.

"_Accessing: Main Street Camera 1127. Date: July 23. Time: 2:34 P.M..."_

Smoke filled the camera lens, providing only hazy flashes and images through the smog. He heard the signs long before he saw them; a roar, explosions, and pedestrian screams. There was a booming noise, and suddenly the smoke cleared. Robin saw a glowing blue figure standing in the middle of Main Street, surrounded by mounds of broken pavement and vehicles.

Then, static. The camera had been brought down.

Robin ground his teeth and bolted for the door. He didn't know if it was an alien, or if Slade had found a new weapon. He didn't know what it was.

But it was back.


	6. 6: Combat Practice

Soulfrenzy

Chapter 6 – Combat Practice

"No! No, get away!"

Sharon ran like one possessed through along Main Street. Hundreds of other civilians were ahead of her; that was what was making her hysterical. She had been one of the last to overcome her shock at the creature's sudden appearance – and everyone after her was already long-gone.

A violent tremor shook the ground behind her, and she stumbled. Hot air rushed past from behind, accompanied by the shearing of metal and the sound of an explosion. She turned in her prone position to see what had caused the noise: a car had been hurled in her direction, and its flaming wreckage was only now screeching to a halt.

"Help!" she gasped, though more weakly than she wished to. It was only when a flaming blue shape leapt over the billowing plumes of smoke that she truly shrieked. The monster roared its reply, diving toward her to-

A sonic blast rippled through the air and struck her attacker, flinging it sideways into a building. Sharon scrambled to her feet and bolted away, nothing but a crazed, adrenaline-filled shell of herself.

* * *

"Booyah!"

Cyborg deactivated his jet pack, touching down with the rest of the Titans. He aimed his sonic cannon for another blast at the dust-filled hole that the creature had just left in a building's wall. "Not so tough after all."

"I doubt it'll be that easy," Robin said. As if to answer his statement, a monstrous growl reverberated from the building. One moment later the second story burst open, sending vast chunks of brick and mortar flying at them. Starfire and Robin cleared the projectiles with explosives and star bolts, but by then they had another problem.

A streak of blue light launched itself from the half-razed structure, and was heading right for them.

"Titans, disperse!" Robin ordered, rolling to the side. Everyone else made evasive maneuvers, but it wasn't enough. The monster landed with the force of an artillery shell, creating a blast wave that sent them flying every which way. Robin tumbled and slammed into an upturned sewer pipe, knocking the wind out of him.

_Ignore it,_ his training told him, i_t's still not down._

He obeyed, rising to look his foe in the face. The creature was alight with blue flame, with a muscular, human upper body and the legs of a werewolf. Its feet were larger, however, and hooked with sharp claws. Its arms were similarly adorned. Robin took one look at its noseless face, with pale, monochrome eyes, fanged maw, and curved horns. It looked like something out of Raven's books, but he knew better. This was the real deal.

"Titans, be careful! It _will_ kill us if it can!"

"Then we will not allow that to happen!" Starfire cried, diving from above with star bolts in hand. She launched them and angled back up for another run. The monster rolled forward, dodging the explosions and leaping upward. It crossed twenty feet in one bound, wrapping its claws around her ankle before throwing her into the pavement. Her cry was lost in the dust cloud that followed her landing.

"Starfire!" Robin shouted, immediately tossing two ice grenades at the creature's landing spot. They reached their target, immediately encapsulating it in a meter-thick block of ice. Robin ran toward where Starfire had landed, desperate to verify her condition.

He didn't get far; the ice flashed brightly for a moment, then burst. Pellets the size of baseballs bombarded him, forcing him to cartwheel away. The monster roared, setting its eyes upon him. It raised a claw, glowing with energy, and it sent a fireball whizzing in his direction. He barely had time to dodge it; the car behind him exploded, sending shrapnel raining down on them.

"That's new!" Cyborg yelled, firing another blast with his sonic cannon. The blast found its mark again, knocking the creature backwards into a fire hydrant. "That oughta put you out!"

Robin was right to conserve his hopes on that one. Water rained down from the ruptured hydrant, but it only made the creature burn more brightly.

_What the Hell is this thing?_

Snarling, it snatched a piece of shrapnel off the ground, spinning and hurling the fragment at Cyborg with terrific speed. Metal whirred through the air as a blur faster than Robin's eyes could follow, promptly embedding itself in Cyborg's shoulder plating with a screech.

"Gah!" he cried, stumbling backward. The beast snarled, raising its claws to release dual blasts of fire, but it didn't get the chance.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

Raven emerged from a portal above them, encapsulating the creature's wrists in black energy and yanking them off-target. It snarled at her, but a green rhinoceros charged it from behind and embedded his horn into its back. Raven took advantage of the momentum and swung it up and over her head with a chain of magical energy, sending it flying into a pile of rubble.

"Don't let it get up!" Robin shouted, hurling grenades of every kind at the dust cloud that the monster had turned up. Cyborg used his good arm to keep up suppressive fire, as well as providing missiles from the rocket packs on his shoulders. Starfire rose from the crater she had left, outputting a steady flow of star energy. She had a few cuts and scratches, but nothing too serious. Raven used her powers to hurl whatever she could find into the mix, and even Beast Boy threw debris in his gorilla form. Dust flew up from their attack in tonnes, blotting out the sun.

Robin had a feeling that it wouldn't be that easy, and he was right. A bubble of protective fire emerged from the smoke, the monster at its core. Their attacks struck the sphere exploded at its surface, but they didn't seem to make much progress. Its maker snarled, and the brightness of the sphere increased.

_Uh oh..._

Robin dove for cover, but the explosion was too quick. He saw Starfire get thrown backward out of the corner of his eye. Bright light flashed behind him, and then he was swept aside.

* * *

Raven felt the bounds of her shield flex under the titanic energy burst. She was thrust backward into an overturned dumpster, the hard metal driving the air from her lungs like a vice.

_We're losing,_ she thought. She let down her shield and slipped into the shadows. The creature was looking about rabidly, trying to discern new targets for its assault in the smoking aftermath. She couldn't see Beast Boy; Robin and Starfire were still far off, and Cyborg was lying face-down on the pavement. For all she knew, she was the last Titan standing.

Upon seeing their opponent, she'd withheld mental contact; now, however, it seemed that their brute-force attempts were falling short of expectations. She reached out mentally, preparing her body with automatic commands to shield her in the event of attack.

The moment she made contact, a slew of emotions ran their course over her. Anger, hatred, fear, frustration – they all had their way with her, driving her to the ground with their intensity. The creature snapped its head in her direction, obviously aware of her presence. The emotions formed a web around her, preventing her from retreating. It was unlike anything she had ever felt from anyone; the emotions were raw, powerful, sincere, but manipulated with a mastery that ruled out berserk psychopathy.

_What... are you?_

The creature leapt toward her, apparently unbound by the same conflict she was. It raised a claw to strike her, but her body did as she had commanded, throwing a mystic shield between them. The force of her assailant's punch was incredible; she could feel the shockwaves coursing through her soul. She wouldn't be able to keep this up long, even with all her attention devoted to it. She tried to regain control, but the web of rage constricted around her. It drove out all thought, all will. There was only fury.

There was a sudden, distant roar, and sensation came crashing back. She saw a vague green shape before her, another blue one hurtling away to the side. What were they?

Raven felt the world begin to turn, and she collapsed onto her side.

* * *

Beast Boy looked to his side. Raven had passed out for some reason, but he didn't have time to check on her. He only hoped that she was alright; he wouldn't lose her like he did Terra.

The creature growled, pulling itself out of the car it had become embedded in. He reverted from his ram form; it had been enough to tackle the monster, but he needed something bigger.

"Stay away from her!" he shouted, launching himself forward. His limbs grew to the size of pillars, his face elongated into a tooth-filled maw, and his spine lengthened to a tail. The Tyrannosaurus Rex lunged for its prey, but he wasn't fast enough.

The monster leapt upward in a blue blur, landing on his head while he clamped down on wrecked vehicle. Beast Boy felt a terrible impact on his skull, the entire world jolting. Claws came next, tearing through his scales to the bone below.

_Gah!_

He roared in pain, inverting his head into the pavement below them. He felt the monster squashed between his skull and the road, but it still clung on. Finally he shrank, twisting his body shape into the only thing capable of getting the job done. The blue beast dropped to the ground, some shards of tar still burning off of its ignited flesh. Beast Boy lunged in his werewolf form, slashing at any body part he could find exposed. His enemy's flesh seemed to have some measure of invulnerability, because he only succeeded in minor scratches despite diamond-hard claws.

A few hits landed, but he didn't keep the upper hand for long. The creature ducked beneath a paw swipe, driving one clawed fist into Beast Boy's abdomen. The pain rattled like a drug through him; he let the rage send him strength in return. A single furred claw took hold of the creature's right horn and jerked it back like a bull. He growled and spun about, throwing it into a broken store front. Glass shattered and blue flames billowed out from the newly-made hole.

_That'll show ya, you big lunk!_

Amidst his growling, he felt a sudden pain in his paw. A quick glance revealed scars on the paw that had grabbed the horn; it was like the fire had dissolved his flesh, to a small degree.

There was a roar, and Beast Boy looked up to see the creature hurtling out of the building. He had no time to react before it was on him in a flurry of claws. They rolled along the pavement, stray blows leaving pockmarks in the asphalt. Pains jabbed at him from every direction. Not only was this thing strong, it was fast.

_NO!_ Beast Boy snarled and grabbed hold of one claw, hurling the creature yards away. It tumbled and dug into the pavement, leaving deep furrows as it slowed its momentum. Beast Boy could barely see it now; his vision was blurry and his body hurt all over. He could barely keep himself morphed.

_Uh... oh..._

The creature lunged for him, but the final blow never came; however, there was an awful lot of green light.

* * *

Starfire swooped downward, her fists aglow with star bolts.

"You will not hurt my friends!"

The monster rocketed back from the blast she had sent its way, careening into a pile of rubble. Rocks and dust billowed from where it landed, but she soared straight through it and slammed both her fists into its burning chest. The force of her anger knocked it _through_ the rubble pile and bouncing down the street.

_You will not hurt Robin!_

A pair of fireballs came flying toward her in response. She ascended over them and sped at the creature, laying a bombardment of star bolts onto where it stood. She heard a yowl as she passed over it.

Another fireball flew out of the smoke, narrowly missing her. Righteous fury rose up in her heart.

"You _will_ be apprehended!" she shouted, turning for another pass. Her enemy had other ideas.

The creature leapt from the street, rising almost thirty feet in the air to meet her. She swerved to avoid it; its claws sliced off a lock of her hair. She turned and planted her glowing fist into its chest, sending it flying.

"HRRRRAAAAHH!"

Starfire dove after it, pushing it with fists outstretched into the street. Dust and rubble flew up around them as she hammered it deeper into the ground. Each blow was stronger than the last; as her anger grew, she found new reserves of strength. A pipe burst beneath the monster's back, scattering them in a powerful explosion of water.

She landed against the wall of the crater she had created. She saw it coming before she'd fully oriented herself; despite all the hits it had taken, the creature was already hurtling back at her. She brought up her hands for defense, but a fist still slammed into her cheek with jarring force. She stumbled away, but it caught her shoulder and pulled her back. Its forehead collided with hers, sending stars through her vision, and then another blow hammered into her stomach.

"Gah!" she gasped. More hits hammered into her at various points; one leg buckled, opening for a clean uppercut that sent her flying out of the pit. Not even her alien resilience gave her enough stamina to rise from where she landed.

The creature did not seem so encumbered; it leapt out of the crater, landing heavily with its feet on either side of her.

_No..._

It wrapped its claws around her neck like a vice, unceremoniously yanking her up to its face. She heard the unbearably loud noise of its roar, feel its hot breath on her face. Then she was jerked sharply into the air. The world spun around her, but through the chaos she saw a brilliant flare of blue. It surrounded her, and a horrible burning with it – then blackness.

* * *

"STARFIRE!"

Robin saw the explosion of energy from hundreds of feet away. He ignored the pounding in his head, wiped the blood from his mask. There was nothing more important than her right now.

The creature had engulfed her in a massive fireball. He saw her body fall from the resulting burst of light, collapsing limply onto the street. Her alien physique had probably saved her life; almost all of her clothing had been burned away, and her hair was smoking. The creature stood several yards beyond her, watching her with sudden placidity.

He was going to kill it. He had suddenly found something he hated more than Slade.

He grasped two of his boomerang daggers and snapped them together. The two devices extended their blades into a sword-like weapon. He charged, ignoring his other gadgets. The creature was close now; it noticed him, but too late. He leaned back, slipping under the swing of a claw and sliding along the pavement beside its owner. He sliced at the creature's thigh, tearing a long gash into its fiery flesh. He heard the sudden roar of pain, saw it clutch the wound as he spun to his feet. He struck it in the face; sparks flew as it spun away and stumbled, howling, from the blow.

"Beat THIS!" he shouted, driving the sword through its back with all his strength. He saw the point protrude from its chest, heard the tearing of flesh by metal. And, to his surprise, it was accompanied by the most pained howl he had ever heard.

The creature thrashed, but it wasn't weakening. He didn't have time to react before a flaming elbow struck him – hard – in the ribs. There was a snap, and his grip loosened. It spun around and grabbed his entire face with one claw. Such was the force of its grip that Robin had no doubt it would crush his skull.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a different kind of blue. A charging mass of chrome tackled the creature from the side, releasing him from that horrible grip. Cyborg tumbled with it along the road; he came out on top, and raised his fist to land what might have been the finishing blow.

But he wasn't fast enough. Sword still lodged in its chest, the beast snarled and launched its claw _through_ him. Robin saw parts and scrap metal fly from the exit wound; Cyborg's expression froze in shock as he powered down. The creature got a clawed foot between them and kicked his frozen body aside.

Stumbling, but very much able, the creature dragged itself to a standing position. For the first time, Robin thought he was going to die. His torso was throbbing from at least one broken rib, and everyone else was down. He had never seen a villain fight with this amount of fury, determination, and power, but it had beaten them all the same. The Titans had met their match.

They had lost.

The creature raised one claw at him. It was panting; they had done a lot of damage. He could see now that the sword, though still lodged in its target, was warped and melted by the flames. Robin felt a numbness on his face where it had touched him.

Energy began to collect at the tip of its arm. He could see the fireball forming. He had always wondered what would come to his mind at this very moment – the moment before his end. He'd thought he might see Bruce; recently he thought he'd see his team, or Starfire. But he didn't see any of that. He saw -

"Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!"

A school bus slammed down on the creature like a sledgehammer, collapsing along its entire length until it was no taller than Beast Boy. Robin groaned, squinting against the dust and turning his head – as best he could – to see Raven floating down to him. She knelt at his side; worry and sweat covered her face.

"Robin!" she exclaimed, but she sounded far away. He fought to stay conscious, but he failed; Raven's image faded to blackness.


	7. 7: Fallout

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 7 – Fallout**

Robin stared at the monitor, his digital window into the interrogation room, unflinchingly.

_This can't be it,_ he thought. _This is _not_ what we were against._

A young, tan man with six-inch long white hair sat bound to a metal chair, alone in the cold metal box that was his cell. His head was sullenly downcast. He had barely moved since waking – and that was twenty minutes ago. Robin had been almost angry when they found him. He had been all they could find beneath that bus; toned and muscular, yes, but not a flaming blue demon.

_It doesn't matter what he _looks_ like,_ he concluded, turning away from the monitor. He was standing with Raven and Cyborg in the tower's sick bay; Starfire was lying, comatose, in a bed behind him. The room was dimly lit; only Cyborg's armor plating and the monitors attached to Starfire gave off any real light. _He did this to us. He did this to her._

He walked to her bedside, laying a hand on the cusp of her cot. Many moments of silence passed; neither the Titans nor their guest seemed content to speak.

Cyborg finally broke the silence. "Her vital signs read normal, man." He rubbed his torso; it had taken over an hour for Robin to get him rebooted so that he could repair the rest himself. "She'll wake up. I promise."

He forced Starfire out of his mental picture. He couldn't be compromised right now; he only had time for the case.

"I'm not as worried about that as I am about him." Robin pointed to the monitor. "_He's_ what did this to Starfire? To Beast Boy? To _you_? It doesn't make any sense."

"Whatever the creature was, it was paranormal," Raven said. "And such things _rarely_ make sense."

"Do you know anything about it?"

Raven paused, and not for the first time since she had come to his rescue, she looked uncomfortable. She had not been as acutely focused since the battle.

"No..." she said finally. "I have never seen, or read, of anything like it. I'll see if I can find anything in my -"

"No," he said decisively. "No, I need you here. We wait for Beast Boy, and then I interrogate him. This is too important; we all have to be here. Especially if Starfire is in danger again."

Cyborg reached out to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We'll take care of her, man. I promise."

"I know that." Robin turned away, letting the hand gently slip away. "But this is the closest we've ever come to... losing." He swallowed the _k-word._ It had come to mind first, but not in his team. Not on his watch. "If I go down doing this, then you're going to have to get out of here. Call the other Titans."

More seconds of silence, staring at that monitor. The young man shifted slightly under the camera's gaze, but if he was aware of their observation, he did not acknowledge it.

"I should go in there with you," Cyborg decided. Robin shot him a glance out of the corner of his eye.

"No. Interrogation is delicate. And we're not sure if he can be triggered by panic or anger. We're not even sure if he _is_ the guy we're looking for. Just let me handle it."

There was a sudden hiss as the sick bay door slid open. Visibly stiff, but miraculously whole, Beast Boy hobbled into the darkness.

"Dude... I had to morph into a _sponge_ to get those scars to heal!" he said. The words were light enough, but he had a humorless look in his eyes. Responding to everyone's quizzical looks, he added, "Usually an octopus does the trick."

"You can _do_ that?" Cyborg's expression, on any other day, would have been humorous. "How do you know how to do that?"

His healing was, given the deep, numerous furrows that had covered his body only hours ago, indeed remarkable. And he was right – sponges had the ability to regenerate themselves from even a tiny cluster of cells. Beast Boy's use of that obscure form had been uncharacteristically ingenious.

"I know a lot about animals, dude," Beast Boy replied to his bionic friend. "I'm not _stupid_."

He looked at Raven, but her quips were notably absent. Nobody seemed in-character today.

"But hey, it helps with the whole super-hero gig! A little jellyfish here, maybe a lizard there, and I'm good as-"

Robin abruptly turned back toward the monitor and their prisoner. Beast Boy paused at the sudden movement.

"Oh... sorry dude."

Robin felt tempted to reach up to his face, to touch the marks that the blue flames had carved into it. They were mild marks, not exactly disfiguring, but he had every belief that they were permanent – for non-alien, non-sponged people, anyway. But then, there was no time for self-pity.

"It doesn't matter, Beast Boy. You're here now; we're as ready as we'll ever be."

"For what?"

Robin gave him a sidelong look.

"The interrogation."


	8. 8: Interrogation

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 8 – Interrogation**

The boy started when the holding cell's door slid open. Robin walked in with a stony expression; the only sound was of the soles of his boots striking the floor. Neither of them spoke as he took the only other seat in the room.

A cold metal table was all there was between them. He wrung his wrists in anxiety; no doubt the coarse texture of the nanotube fabric that held him was causing some discomfort. That was unremarkable; what Robin noted most was the genuine look of anxiety on his face.

"I almost lost a lot of good people because of you," he said, immediately pressing both gloved hands onto the table. "Who are you?"

The young man returned his gaze for a moment. His eyes were bright blue; brighter than in anyone else he had ever seen. Then, visibly sweating, he stared down at the table.

"I... I don't know."

_Of course._

"You don't know? You wreck a city block, almost kill five people, murder four teenagers in the woods, and _you don't know_?" Robin stood suddenly, causing the chair to tumble backward and resound loudly against the floor. The boy winced. "You have ten seconds to tell me the truth, or there will be a permanent imprint of your face on this table!"

* * *

Cyborg's eyebrow rose at the shouts coming through the monitor.

"Uhhh..." Beast Boy looked at the other two for reassurance. "Is that how it's supposed to go?"

"'Delicate' my tin ass," Cyborg growled. "He's gonna trigger the kid again!"

"Hey!" Beast Boy made a pouting face. "He looks older than I am!"

"He knows what he's doing," Raven said, eyes locked on the monitor. "Trust him, like we'd want him to trust us."

* * *

"I... I don't know!" the boy said. He pulled violently at his constraints for a second, as if spasming, then ceased. "All I remember is a big flash of light and... darkness, and-and an alleyway... I felt like I was burning..."

Robin backed off slightly, taking his hands off the table. He didn't want to dam the flow.

"And then there... there was this girl speaking to me, but she was far away..."

* * *

For the first time since the interrogation began, Raven's expression changed. Her eyes only opened a fraction wider than normal, her skin grew only a faint tinge of red – but she _was_ affected. He'd heard her contact? The quaking voice, the desperate expression on his face... those were _not_ the emotions present in his mind before. What had changed?

"Hey, you alright, Raven?"

She was surprised – much more so than she would have desired – to have her thoughts interrupted. She returned Cyborg's inquiry flatly.

"As fine as any of us are today. I'm just trying to understand his behavior."

* * *

"And then?"

Robin waited, arms crossed, for his answer.

"I woke up here," the boy murmured. He suddenly looked up at Robin again. "What _happened_? You were there, weren't you?"

"Oh yes, I _was_ there." Robin turned the intensity back up. "I was there to watch you do what you did. You _destroyed_ Main Street, you _killed_ at least four people! You did _this_ to my face! If you can't tell me why, I have to assume that you did all of that with purpose. And that means you go away for a long, long time."

"Stop – please. Just... stop." The boy winced. His knuckles were pale from gripping the chair. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen..."

"So now you _know_ what's going on? Tell me who you are, how you got here, and why you did what you did. And tell me now."

"I don't know who I am," he replied quietly. "And I don't know how I got here. I just remember waking up in the woods, at night. I _feel_ like there's something else, but I can't remember it. But there's this... there's something else. I don't know what it is or what it's from, but I think it's what you're talking about. Everything you said that _I_ did, I think that was what it was. This _thing_, this angry, angry thing... and I can still feel it inside me. Just waiting."

He shuddered. "I could feel what it was thinking. And I don't know why it's there..." He screwed his eyes shut. Moisture collected at their edges. "I'm sorry, I really am sorry for anything that happened, but you have to understand. I'm afraid for a thousand reasons – of you, of myself, and I don't know why anything is happening. You seem strong enough to keep me here, and that's probably the best, but just know..."

He gazed up at Robin seriously. "Just know that whatever is in me could come back."

Robin frowned. "And why isn't it back right now?"

"It only comes out when I think I'm in danger – at least, that's what I think it does." His entire body tensed as he tried to fight another wave of panic. "But I don't know, I remember so little of anything. Even after the night in the woods – it's all blurry."

"Listen-" Robin paused, realizing that he had no name with which to follow. "You _have_ to remember what happened. People have died, and you're the only person that can be accountable. We can't protect you if-"

"Who _are_ you!?" the prisoner yelled. His head suddenly snapped upward. His eyes seemed to gleam unnaturally in the dim interrogation room. "Why are you dressed like that? Who is _we_? What gives you the right to hold me here?"

He doubled over before Robin could respond. He groaned softly to himself, trembled for a moment, and then was still. Silence coated the room like a shroud; Robing stood on edge, ready to react to the smallest sign of danger.

The mysterious youth sat up suddenly; his face glistened with perspiration, but he seemed calm once again.

"I... do not think it wise to continue."


	9. 9: Eye on the Prize

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 9 – Eye on the Prize**

"_It might come back."_

The young man's face froze on the telescreen. Everything he felt was painfully obvious on his expression – fear, confusion, distrust.

"Is he not everything that I promised?" asked the hunched figure, his face obscured by a ragged hood in the already-dim room. "Powerful, young, moldable... he suits your needs, does he not?"

Slade turned to the man, arms folded neatly behind his back.

"Your taste is undeniable," he replied. "But I must ask, why bring him to me? How did you know that I required an apprentice such as this?"

"It does not take a mastermind to discover that you have returned," the man replied simply. "The dark corners of the city are alive with whispers. And I just happened to discover what it was you were waiting for."

"Oh, yes; very likely." Slade's eye narrowed. "Information on my movements is not _easy_ to come across. I am adept at keeping secrets."

He extended his hand to remove the hood, but the man caught his wrist with surprising alacrity. Slade responded with a fist to his stomach.

"Gugh..." The elderly figure doubled over even more so.

"As, apparently, are you."

"My... apologies, Master Slade. I am sure you can imagine the advantages of... hiding one's face."

Slade's hand was quickly released. He folded his arms and glanced back at the telescreen's flickering image.

_A new apprentice, indeed..._

"And this footage? How have you acquired it?"

"In time, I may tell you," the hunched form replied. "I have many secrets, Master Slade... but I must know that I can share them with you – _hurk!_"

Slade spun and grabbed the man's throat with a gloved hand.

"Let me make this clear," he replied calmly. "This is hardly a negotiation. I can get what I want; time is the only matter at hand. If you have methods of accessing the Teen Titans' defenses, make them known now. Lest I run out of uses for you..." His grip tightened around the old man's throat, making a stubbly chin and mouth visible.

"Alright!" he gasped. Slade released his prisoner. "It is... it is this." The man held up a small computer chip. The metal was black, and where the circuitry would normally be, glowing orange rivulets ran instead. "It is a sleeper virus, far more advanced than any nanotechnology known to man. It slowly... subjugates systems, without providing any evidence to onlookers. The powers it gives me over the Titans' home is only limited at this time, but it was enough to secure this." He gestured at the telescreen.

Slade's brow furrowed in thought. This was a man of many secrets... and obvious potential.

"And until the entire system is, as you say, subjugated?"

"A matter of weeks. But the Titans themselves-"

"Are unaware of all that is in motion around them," Slade replied. His mind began to run calculations, private simulations. He strode past the decrepit man into the subterranean chamber's dark corridors. "Come, we have an army to build."


	10. 10: Deliberations

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 10 – Deliberations**

"So what should we do about him?"

Cyborg folded his arms and glanced at the monitor, where their prisoner was still patiently sitting.

"We give him to the police, like every other criminal we catch!" Beast Boy said. Receiving hard looks from the other three, he blushed and added, "At least, that's where my vote is."

"If we put him in a normal prison, he might break out," Robin replied. "There's no way we could help them design a cell that could hold something like him. And I'm not even sure he _wants_ to escape. His motive is completely unclear."

"I'm not so sure he has one," Cyborg added. "Look at him. He just glances around that room and hangs his head. I'm startin' to think that he was telling the truth."

"So what?" Beast Boy asked, his courage returning. "You all saw what he can do. He's dangerous, and mad freaky!" He sprouted horns for reference. "We can't just, like, let him walk around all monster-like!"

"But we can't jail an innocent person, either," Robin said firmly. "If he really is... _possessed_ by something, then we can't hurl him into a jail cell and forget this ever happened. Something else is going on here, and we need to figure out what it is."

"A time bomb is what's going on! He's literally _next door_ to Starfire! Do you not care about that?"

"Of course I care about that!" Robin's voice spiked dangerously. "That's why I don't want to move him for no reason. The interrogation room is secure. If we just take him out -"

"BB's right, though," Cyborg interjected. "We can put him in the container I built for Raven. That should keep him -"

"That's not our primary concern right now," Robin said heatedly. "It'll be better if we just get a plan of investigation together to get to the bottom of this, _before_ an incident even happens."

"You can't just discount her like that!" Cyborg snapped back. "She's your _girlfriend_, man! You can't ignore that fact that -"

"Can we _stop_ talking about _Starfire_!?" Robin yelled. The room went dead silent. "This isn't about her, or me! This is about finding out what is inside _him_ so that we can put another threat to the city to rest. Everything else is second to that. It's what _she _would want, and it's what you _should_ want."

"I can't believe this!" Cyborg threw up his hands. "I'm half metal, but I'm more human than you are! Starfire was -"

"ENOUGH!" Raven strode among them from the shadows she had been leaning in before. "We are tearing ourselves apart, and that is neither making Starfire safer nor bringing this case closer to conclusion." There was an uncomfortable pause, but Cyborg finally exhaled.

"Fine," he said. "Do you know anything about this, though? Now that you've seen it up close?"

_Closer than you know_, Raven thought. She shrugged.

"My books have detailed some vague accounts of demonic possession, but it's nothing like this. Demons are usually intelligent, or they don't have the mental capacity to dominate a human. And they never do it _part time_. I'll have to speak with him directly if I want to understand this better than I already do."

"What?" Beast Boy almost squeaked. "Again? He_,_ like, _just_ said that he could go all "flame-on" again! Why would you want to go in there?"

"I can pass through the wall if I need to," she replied calmly. "You're free to come with me if you want, but you'd probably fall asleep in the meantime."

Beast Boy prickled at her comment, but said nothing more. Robin looked at her appraisingly, then nodded. "If that's what you want, then we'll be watching."

"No." She shook her head. "If he can sense us watching – and we have no reason to think that he doesn't – then earning his trust will be difficult. It would be better if you tried to recover while we speak."

"No way," Cyborg objected. "There's no way we're -"

"Cyborg, your battery was heavily damaged, and most of you didn't fare any better. I can handle it. Just _rest_."

He frowned, but finally sighed again.

"I don't know why you want this," he grumbled. "But the mysticism thing is your gig. Just tell me when the team's getting back together."

The door hissed open and then shut with a clang as he departed. Beast Boy huffed, realizing that the prisoner was not going to prison after all, and followed him.

Robin walked over to the monitor and gazed up at it silently. Raven placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You too, Robin," she said as gently as she could, eying the scars on his face. He said nothing, merely reaching up to the monitor and shutting it off.

"I'm staying here," he said. "I'll do what you think is right, but I'm staying here."

"Robin-"

"I'm not losing anyone today. We came close enough."

His eyes flitted through the mask to Starfire's bedside; he walked over to it and sat there resolutely, back turned to Raven. "I won't interfere; just be careful."

In the light of the medical equipment, combined with the new scars along his face, Raven noticed how _old_ he looked. He placed his hands beneath his chin and bent forward, looking intently on Starfire's inert body.

_Robin..._

Raven exhaled through her nostrils in the slightest resemblance to a sigh, then pressed the control panel to the interrogation room. The doors opened with a hiss.


	11. 11: Peace Talks

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 11 – Peace Talks**

"Who are you?"

Raven did not reply to the young man's query as she sat before him. It felt alien to her, sitting in Robin's usual place. Neither of them spoke, but he gazed at her continuously. He seemed to be at the edge of recognition.

"You know who I am, don't you?" she asked almost rhetorically.

His eyes widened at the sound of her voice. His hand twitched, as if he had subconsciously tried to move it.

"You... you spoke to me!" He suddenly closed his eyes. His expression became intently focused; moments later, Raven felt a delicate presence touch her mind. Before she could react with more than a facial twitch it receded, and his eyes opened again. There was an almost... _excited_ gleam in them. "You were the one in the city!"

Raven wasn't sure what to say. She didn't do well with... excited. He proceeded with the conversation without her, however. His expression faded to puzzlement, and he leaned back in his chair.

"Who are you?"

"We're a group known as the Teen Titans. We defend this city from threats and criminals like-" She cut herself off. "From criminals."

He paused, as if privately calculating his next question.

"What is going on?" he asked, seemingly to himself. She hesitated, trying to approach him in such a way that would keep him calm and somewhat collected.

"We are trying to understand that," she said. "But we do not have anything with which to work. You haven't supplied us with any information that we can use to explain what is happening to you."

He sighed softly. "I am sorry about that, but I fear to look into my own mind. I know not what lurks there, but it is nothing kind."

"Then you know what happened to you? What you did?"

He paused and, with a slight grimace, stared off into the corner of the room.

"Not exactly. I can recall fragments and sensations... and I know now that they were real. But everything until now has seemed dream-like; as if I were not the one in control of my own body. I can only recall this room with any clarity."

"And you don't know why you are here."

"I wish it were not so, but I think I do." He turned a slightly paler shade of tan. "Though I do not know why I did it. I do not even know you... although I feel that you mean me no harm."

She felt a slight wave of embarrassment. He was radiating calm in speaking to her, and his softened expression made her feel like some sort of teddy bear.

"Okay..." She cleared her throat. "Alright. Do you understand why we tied you to this chair?"

He eyed the bindings unreadably.

"You found me to be dangerous," he murmured, "so you caged me. I understand."

"Do you agree with us?"

He looked up at her uncertainly. "Why are you asking me these things? Could you not merely imprison me for what I have done?"

She arched an eyebrow. He sighed, and his tone dropped to something slightly less challenging. "I apologize. I am merely curious why my feelings matter. I am a murderer and a destroyer, if what I am told – and what I remember – is true. What difference does it make?"

Raven paused, unsure of how to respond. Talking with him seemed to keep him calm and non-fiery, but to tell him this would lose all of the bridges they had managed to make. And somehow, looking at him in person, Raven saw a very familiar helplessness in him.

"Because you're the victim," she said, without entirely thinking it out. "You don't _want_ to be what you are, and that's why we're doing this. We fight villains, not criminals."

He looked up at her. She thought the corners of his mouth turned upward, though the movement was so slight it was impossible to tell. A wave of peace washed over her mind from his.

"Thank you," he murmured. "Thank you for saying that."


	12. 12: Man in the Machine

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 12 – Man in the Machine**

Starfire's blank expression looked peaceful in the soft light of the cardiogram. She might have been asleep, had the setting been different. Robin sat intently over her. He was silent and motionless; mostly he just looked at her, mind blank. The cot's shift covered her alluring shape, and her hair spilled out in a flowing radius around her head. It was plenty to occupy himself with, given that he didn't want to think about anything else.

The world was filled with questions. There were few situations in which his life was filled with such indecision; there was a good way and a bad way to do most everything, and most people simply struggled to do what they knew was right. Today, however, had something that he hated with all of his being.

_There is no right answer today._

In the deepest, truest sense, he knew that was the truth. There was no right answer for their prisoner. There was no right answer for Slade. There was no right answer for him and Starfire.

Robin reached out and placed a hand on hers. She was unresponsive to his touch. How had he let it become this way?

She meant so much to him, but he was always able to push her aside for just a few more seconds. He'd always had to. He had a team to run, to safeguard; his duties extended to more than just her, and yet he could not do without her. She had been patient, and she had given him the hope that he could reward her for that patience.

But he couldn't. He had failed.

The doors to the sick bay slid open, causing him to jerk back his hand. It was Cyborg's chrome frame that occupied the doorway.

"Hey man," he said. There was a silent moment.

"Hey."

"Can I join you?"

Robin paused, glancing at Starfire from the corner of his mask. She had shown no sign of change.

"Sure."

Cyborg's metallic legs clinked against the floor as he walked to the bench along the far wall, then sat heavily upon it. His red, robotic eye gleamed in the darkness, flickering every so often when it shifted focus. After over a minute of quietude, he broke the silence.

"I'm sorry, man. For what I said earlier."

"You don't have to be. I understand why you said it."

"So you knew about it? How she felt?"

"No," Robin replied. "But I'm curious about how _you_ do."

Cyborg huffed. "She told me, earlier today. You know she isn't too good at hidin' her feelings; I asked her about it."

Robin felt a pang of shame. "Apparently she was good enough for me."

"I bet she wouldn't be if you just looked hard enough."

"It's not that simple."

"Why not?" Cyborg had his arms crossed and was peering at him intently. "You live in the same house. You spend a lotta time with her, or at least you _used_ to."

"I wish it were that way," Robin replied, agitated. "But what I'm _supposed_ to do is look after this team. Everything else is second to that. I can't afford to be paying more attention to her than everyone else."

"So that's it, then? Robin, _we can take care of ourselves_. But if you and her are gonna go through with this, you _have_ to pay more attention to make it work."

"I know you have Sarah," Robin replied sternly. "But that doesn't mean that our situations are the same. You don't have anyone under your command."

"Hey man, you're not exactly General Immortus," Cyborg retorted. "We're you're _friends_, Robin. Star's your _special_ friend. She needs you to be there for her, and we all understand."

"Maybe you do, but Slade doesn't. This new... demon, or whatever it is, doesn't. The threats won't stop just because we're more than friends now. And I'll do whatever it takes, burn whatever bridges I have to, to make those threats disappear. Even if it means letting her go."

Cyborg let out a rattling sigh of frustration. "Then you're letting them win. You can't let them own you, Robin."

"Don't lecture me," he said bitterly. "You don't understand."

"Of _course_ I understand!" Cyborg rose slightly off the bench, gesturing to his alloy body. "I have more reason that _anyone_ to value the man inside the machine! You're not a crime-fighting Gadgetron 2000, Robin! If you keep ignoring the part of you that _feels_, you'll be closer to Slade than any of us!"

Robin stood with a snarl. "Do _not_ compare me to him!"

Cyborg paused, then sat heavily back in his seat. The walls vibrated with the force.

"Sorry," he said in a measured tone. "It just kills me to see this. The two of you... you care about her. But you have to keep the fire burning if you want it to last."

Sobering, Robin also slumped back into his chair. He squinted beneath the mask; his new scars itched. The cardiograph beeped in rhythm, as blissfully ignorant as the patient it monitored. An eternity of quiet beeping passed him by – an eternity he was wasting in indecision.

"You know, sometimes I think you're smarter than I am."

Cyborg chuckled. "Never, man. Not in a million years."


	13. 13: Doctor Raven

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 13 – Dr. Raven**

"Good. Again."

Finally, she felt comfortable. Now, calmly asking questions and receiving at least partially satisfying answers, she felt in control. The boy's sincere and almost innocent personality was uncomfortably disarming otherwise.

The young man sighed.

"I have told you all I know. Must I relive it again?"

"It helps to review events multiple times," she replied matter-of-factly. "Your memories are unreliable. I wish to know which remain consistent, and which do not."

He took a deep, reluctant breath, collecting himself for a few seconds.

"Very well. The first thing I remember is light – bright, bright light. I felt like I had been torn apart; I could not think straight. I did not feel solid. Then, everything was dark – and cold. I was alone; I started moving, but I don't remember why. I found a tunnel and went in; I remember a pulsing, like thunder through my mind."

He clenched his fists. "It followed me wherever I went. Then there was more bright light, and everything smelled of rot. I felt like my body was going to rip open... so I reached for help. I didn't care where it came from, or what it did. I just remember... being afraid. And then I found you."

He smiled weakly at her. She did her best to ignore the emotions behind it, merely nodding in acknowledgment.

"And, as you say, you woke up here," she finished. "One of us interrogated you. Do you know who he is?"

"No," he murmured. There was an uncomfortable pause, in which the young man seemed to be internally debating with himself.

"You're uncertain." He looked up at her, somewhat mystified. "I'm an empath; I can feel the emotions of people around me, and yours is uncertainty. Is there something you want to ask?"

"Perhaps. Should I?"

"Yes. Anything can help us right now."

He glanced aside for a moment, but seemed to grow affirmed.

"Your... partner. What happened to his face... what _I_ did... how is that possible?"

She hadn't expected that. She lost control for an instant, raising her eyebrows. He averted his gaze immediately.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly. "It's just-"

"No," she said. "Your... the creature that's inside you covered your body in flames. You had the ability to simply... melt things away. He got too close, and-"

"I burned him." He said the words with a saddening shame.

"No; _you_ didn't. Not if what you say is true. It's better to dwell on what you _want_ to be, not what you've done."

"You are more optimistic than I."

"You don't know me."

"Then why do you believe in me?"

"I don't." Raven folded her arms. "But there have been times in my life that I came very, very low, and I got out of them because someone else could see what I didn't. What has happened to and around you is horrible, but you regret it. That, more than anything else, is making you a good person."

He snorted, which almost caused her eyebrows to rise again.

"I may very well be evil; I simply do not recall." He shook his head and stared at the floor. "This is a strange, strange farce I am living."

There was a pause of silence. Raven had asked all she could think of, but still she was no closer to an answer. Still, this boy could not simply be left here, strapped in isolation. They had to move him into something livable.

"The creature inside of you," she began, "what does it make you feel? Do you hold it with conscious effort, or does it attack at will?"

The young man shuddered. "It does not constantly strain against me, but I am ever aware of it. It is waiting... such that it will consume me, if even for a moment I lose control. But it has faded since before. It no longer rules my body, yet I am not comforted."

Raven frowned. Not the best news, but workable. He gazed at her intently, uncomfortably.

"Do you know what it is?" he asked.

"If I did, we wouldn't be talking. And there is more we have to do before we find out."

"Oh." His tone was only slightly disappointed, but it was enough. Raven waved her hand; the bindings holding him suddenly removed themselves from his wrists. His expression changed from saddened to incredulous in an instant.

"We'll be back for you," she said, rising. "You won't have to stay here forever. We'll try to work... something out... for you." It felt awkward, trying to comfort him.

"Thank you..." He paused, then smirked slightly. "I have only now... I have never asked for your name." He looked up at her seriously, as if he were suddenly discussing cancer. "By what may I call you?"

Raven had the distinct feeling that she was blushing.

_Stupid_.

"Raven," she replied simply. "My name is Raven."


	14. 14: Change of Scene

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 14 – Change of Scene**

"I fixed it up for ya with some furniture and stuff... it should do the trick, for now anyway."

The young man stared at the "cell" with his mouth agape. Raven's old containment chamber – a relic from the days when Trigon still menaced the world – had been completely remodeled. The dark walls were recolored, and red carpeting had been laid on the ground. A pair of armchairs, beanie seats, and even a dining set had been placed throughout. There was a drawn curtain in the room's corner; the pillow of a small bed could be seen peeking around its edge. The surveillance window above, however, had remained.

"This is..." he murmured, taking a tentative step into the room.

"We'll only keep you here as long as we have to," Cyborg assured him. "But the DNA analysis and other tests will take time to process. And Raven wants to run some magical tests too."

He walked up to the boy and produced a small electronic key from his pointer finger. Without making eye contact, he began to unlock the large hydraulic shackles around the prisoner's wrists.

"I will cooperate however I can," the boy said. "You have all been... kind to me, given the circumstances."

Cyborg glanced up at him for a second. The locks on the shackles clicked, however, so he removed them and made for the door.

"Don't think too much of it, dude," he said neutrally. He wasn't sure how to address him; the line between friend and foe was as clouded right now as it had ever been. "One of us'll be in to bring you some food. Just try to get some rest."

He turned when he reached the doorway. He reached out to close it, but the young man caught him first.

"Wait," he blurted, turning suddenly to face Cyborg. He clutched at his wrists where they had been shackled. "That girl in the sick bay... the one that I saw when you were transferring me... is she going to be alright?"

Cyborg's expression turned stony. He didn't mean to direct it at the boy, but he felt that he had.

"We don't know," he said simply.

The prisoner winced as if stung.

"I'm... I know I've said it already, but I'm sorry." He averted his eyes in shame. "I don't deserve this."

"Well, that depends." Cyborg stepped back into the room. "If everythin' you say is true, then you deserve it as much as anyone else. But if you're not... well, you know."

He was probing, looking for any sign of a liar. The young man took a deep breath, then looked him straight in the eye.

"I can never be sure what is _true_, only what I believe. And I believe that I will atone for what has happened, some day."

He sidled to one of the arm chairs and sat, hands clasped together, eyes directed at the floor. Cyborg's jaw set.

_Power to you, then._

_ "_Please, go tend to your friends. You've spent more than enough time on me."

The comment was in no way malicious, merely defeated. Cyborg stepped back beyond the bounds of the door, his finger hovering over its control panel. The young man did not look up at him over the next few seconds of silence.

He seemed always bound, no matter where he sat or stood. Cyborg could only wonder what that kind of existence must be like – memories only of being passed from room to room, questioner to questioner. More and more, he just felt pity for this young man.

But he couldn't let that happen just yet. Starfire was still in a coma. The beast within had still not been tamed. There was work to do.

The doors shut with a heavy _clang_.


	15. 15: Getting to Know You

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 15 – Getting to Know You**

The hooded man gawked at what lay before him. The factory had, unlike its counterparts, not been destroyed during the Terra's eruption years ago. Even now machinery plugged away at a nearly endless task, assembling the various robotic servants that he so favored.

"How... this place..." the man murmured, looking about the cavernous underground facility. "How have you kept it hidden for so long?"

"I have my methods, and they are of no concern to you," Slade responded simply. "I did not design these droids, but I have made it a habit to have... contingency plans. Their maker is no longer available; I have sole possession of their blueprints now."

A piston fired, ejecting steam into the chamber. It flowed over the pair of them, cloaking the balcony in fog.

"How many of these have you made?" asked the hooded figure in wonder. He turned to Slade, but was rewarded with only steam. The criminal had vanished.

A shadow leapt from behind, catching his thin wrist and painfully twisting it into a lock. The man yelped as Slade effortlessly dragged him to a rigid steel pipe, where he was promptly handcuffed.

"Now that you know how broad my power and options are," he intoned, ignoring the man's futile struggles, "I want you to know how limited yours are."

The dark hood turned up at him. He could see a pair of fearful eyes shining through the dark obscurity beneath it. Slade reached out and yanked it back.

The man had greyish-tan skin. A bald head was supported by a thin neck. His Adam's-apple protruded prominently; he looked as if he had not eaten for days. Coarse black stubble dotted his cheeks and chin. A foot shorter than Slade, he looked like a cornered, terrified animal.

"You have two options. You may continue to work for me, act as my agent, and thus share in the reward. Or..." He narrowed his single eye. "you may enter _permanent_ retirement."

"I..." The man swallowed. "I thought that we were already..."

"Partners?" Slade stared him down. "I do not have partners. I have workers; and soon, I will have an apprentice. But you will be the former."

"Whatever you say, Master-"

"I thought so. Now for your next question."

Slade stepped back, folding his arms behind him and peering at the man intently. "What is your name?"

"Draco," he replied shakily. "It is the name I have carried since before I can remember."

"Very good; you are learning." Slade produced the same small, blackened chip that the man had showed him minutes before. It had not been so complicated to extract it in the commotion of their "struggle." "And this? How did you come to have this?"

Draco's face set. "That, I cannot tell you – _ack_!"

Sade's hand swept across the old man's face, striking it with a profound smack. He slumped; for a moment, the handcuffs were the only thing holding him up.

"Now Draco, that's not what I asked for," Slade said coldly. He took hold of one of the man's fingers and prepared to twist. "There is _nothing_ you cannot tell me."

"Fine!" the old man cried. "Alright, I'll tell you, but I do not think that you'll find it very informative."

"Enlighten me."

"I designed it. I am something of a... tinker, and dabbler in mystic practices. This is a blending of the two."

Slade narrowed his eye. "A powerful tool to simply bring to my feet."

"Because you have what I do not: resources, reputation. I am old, Master Slade; I thought, given your past, that I might be able to share in the spoils that my new technology provided. In exchange, you would retain its powers after I am gone."

"Such an _honest_ compromise. You truly are not suited for this life."

"Which is why I came to you," Draco panted. Slade released his finger.

"You are doing well, Draco," Slade said, turning back to his machines. "Keep this up, and I may let you see the Titans yourself."


	16. 16: Awakening

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 16 – Awakening**

Starfire groaned; she hurt all over. The first thing she became aware of was a faint beeping coming from... somewhere.

_But it is not the clock of alarms..._ she thought. She felt like a calming mist had covered her mind, and that the cold world outside was trying to force its way in. Information came in first in rivulets, then in torrents. She sensed sheets against her skin, the soft beeping, a humming machine. She screwed her eyes together and tried to tone them all out, to retreat back into her blissful, sleepy existence.

_What is all of this..._

Lucidity suddenly burst forth like a flood. The creature, the fire! Robin! She gasped awake, as if she had been defibrillated. Her eyes snapped open.

It was dark, but she still had to squint to adjust at what dim light there was. The room was unfamiliar to her – for a moment she feared that she was in some alien ship, a prisoner once again. Only when she heard a soft, sleepy grumble did she feel comforted.

There was no mistaking it. Robin was here. She made an effort to leap out of the bed to find him, but her muscles did not respond – at least not fully. She shifted, but her body was about as sluggish as a narfgorgle.

_What has happened to me?_ she thought. Worry once again entered her heart. Was she paralyzed? Had the creature deformed her in some way? Where was Robin? She had heard him, she knew it, but he did not react to her. Why?

As best she could, the young alien slowly turned her head. The effort was great at first, but she finally managed to get The Boy Wonder into her field of vision. Her heart was flooded with relief when she realized that he was, in fact, not ignoring her. His spiky black hair was all she could see of his head as it rested on his gloves. Her gasp had apparently not awakened him; his body rose and fell with the soft breaths of sleep.

She recalled now why she was here. This was the Titans Tower's sick bay. The creature she had fought had thrown a great blast of fire at her; it must have knocked her unconscious, probably for some time. She wondered what had become of the beast that she could be here now, but it was one strand of thought in a tapestry. Her brain, silent for days, was making up for lost time.

But of all her miniature questions and concerns, Robin loomed like a giant. He was here, beside her, waiting. That he was asleep did not matter to her; there was no one else in the room. He had to be there for _her._

"_Robin.._."

She was shocked by how feeble her voice was, as if she had not used it in years. He grumbled something, but did not wake. She clenched her teeth in frustration.

"Robin!"

Still weak, but enough to get his attention. Robin started, then lifted his head. His masked eyes widened to find that they were met by hers.

"Starfire!" he gasped. She smiled; her cheeks flushed under his shocked gaze.

She said the only thing she could think of.

"Greetings, Robin."

"Shh!" he quickly responded, placing his hand on her arm. "You're too weak. You need to rest."

"I do not feel weak right now," she murmured. The beeping in the room had increased in frequency.

Robin glanced at the accelerating cardiogram. Her heart was speeding up just looking at him. It was flattering, but worrying.

"Starfire, you've been asleep for days. You need to adjust."

"Will you stay here?"

"What? Of course I will."

"Then I will take as long to adjust as you require."

He blushed. She was so dedicated to him; it made him realize just how awful his previous behavior had been. He took her hand, as if she might float away without it. She squeezed back, although meekly for someone of her strength.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

At this she stared up at the ceiling. She seemed to have difficulty moving, so long had her muscles been inactive.

"I recall fighting a great blue creature, but I was unable to defeat it. There is nothing after that."

"That about sums it up," he said. "We brought you here after we captured it."

"Captured?"

"It's... complicated. We're all safe; you're safe."

The alien princess smiled and closed her eyes. They existed quietly together, holding one another's hands. Despite himself, he smiled. She was awake; she _was_ safe.

She suddenly turned her head back to him and set her green eyes directly upon his face. Her mouth opened to pose another question, but she paused.

"Robin..." She looked puzzled. Slowly, stiffly, she raised one hand up to his face. "What has... _oh_!"

He suddenly realized that she had touched one of his facial scars, obscured in the dim light. She recoiled as if stung.

"What has happened to your face?!" she gasped. She wriggled as if trying to move, but her muscles failed her. He quickly tried to hold her down. "Who has done it? Why have you not sought medical attention?"

"Starfire, stop! Calm down!" he urged her, but she would have none of it. The cardiograph beat at an alarming pace.

"You must seek treatment! You have been injured! We must-"

"Starfire, STOP!"

She froze, eyes widened. Looming over her, she could see clearly the five-pronged groove carved into his face. It pained him to see such... fear in her eyes.

"Robin..."

"We tried to fix it. Cyborg, Raven, they all tried. There wasn't anything they could do."

The cardiograph continued to beep. Frustrated, he suddenly reached over her and turned it off with a jab, then collapsed back into the seat. The room was utterly silent.

Starfire sniffed. Robin looked back at her to see her face tightly wound, and a single tear was dripping out of the corner of her eye.

"Starfire... I didn't mean to-"

"It is not because you raised your voice at me, Robin," she murmured. He could see that she was making a conscious effort not to cry, even if that effort was failing. "It is because you are hurt, and I am too weak to be of help. I must sit here and... and _rest_ because I am not a skilled warrior, because I am a poor Titan, and because I am a burden to you."

"What? Starfire, _no_." He knew that he could hardly command her to stop feeling this way, but it was so against how he felt that he could find no other words. "Almost all of us nearly died out there. It isn't your fault that the team wasn't there – that _I _wasn't there – to back you up."

She sniffed again and turned her head at him. She was at least smiling now, though her eyes looked more aqueous than the sea. Looking into them, it was like a mental barricade had been removed. He pushed further.

"When Cyborg told me how you felt about – about us – I thought-"

"No!" Starfire gasped. "He has told you?! Please do not be angry with me! In was not trying to-"

"No! No." He held out a hand to calm her. "No, that's exactly what I needed to hear. Starfire, I had no _idea_ you felt that way. I thought that I couldn't worry about you at the expense of the team, and I didn't realize it, but I _forced_ myself to ignore you. When Cyborg told me how you felt, I thought..." He involuntarily trailed off for a moment, overcome by the sudden urge to swallow. "I thought that you might never wake up, and that I would never get a chance to make it up to you. To tell you how sorry I am, and promise to you that I'll do better."

Starfire smiled and closed her eyes. She took hold of his outstretched hand, and he let her weakly guide it to her face.

"Oh, Robin..." she murmured, holding it against her cheek. Another tear slid down. "You should not apologize for wanting to be good."


	17. 17: Progress

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 17 – Progress**

Even after their great ordeals, the Titans moved on. The atmosphere in the tower slowly grew more relaxed as the days passed. Even the young man grew to be somewhat comfortable; the entity within him was strangely silent. Though this often troubled him, it also allowed for long periods of restfulness. He took up reading, having little else to do between the Titans' sporadic visits. He showed not only literacy, but a surprising aptitude for the written word. He seemed eager to learn about the world he had spontaneously come into. It did not matter what it was: Robin's crime thrillers, Beast Boy's comic books, Cyborg's technical manuals, and even Raven's poetry books. He even sped through The Bible in three days, much to the entire team's surprise. He found a great deal of attachment to the character of Raguil, the angel of justice and fairness, and decided to take the name as his own.

In addition to his books, Raguil was visited frequently by the team. At first it was merely to conduct tests of electromagnetic, biotic, and mystic natures. But as time wore on and the tests failed one after another, it became more apparent that his stay may be lasting longer than anticipated. Time, however, had healed wounds enough that nobody viewed an extended arrangement as particularly dangerous. Raguil had, as he managed get his bearings, developed into a kind, docile person, and his company was soon sought for purely social purposes.

Cyborg found his intellect surprising. Though Raguil did not have any particular aptitude for technological work, he was deeply interested in science. He seemed capable of understanding and conceiving of things without education, yet his eyes gleamed whenever he ingested some new subject.

Robin also began to visit. Though at first their time was spent reconciling the damage that Raguil's dark side had done to him, they soon passed on to friendship. Raguil was deeply engaged in Robin's crime-fighting stories, the most direct method by which he could experience life outside the cell. Even Beast Boy visited him occasionally, and though he always seemed unhappy with the obligation, nobody got him going about his comic books quite as much as Raguil.

But it was Raven that spent the most time with him. What had begun as a connection of necessity became something of a lukewarm friendship. She found that, in between the seances and scrying rituals, she had a surprising amount in common with him. He memorized many excerpts of her books, and asked endless questions about the mystic arts. Though sometimes she found his curiosity irritating, she could not help but feel validated by his interest in her life. She knew that this curiosity pervaded any and everything, but she still found herself slipping easily into flowing conversations. Despite that connection, Raguil would sometimes find Raven reluctant, businesslike, and formal.

_He's charismatic,_ she told herself. _That's dangerous_.

Once bitten, twice shy, Raven had not forgotten her encounter with Malchior the dragon. Raguil was sincere, innocent, and kind – but he had nearly destroyed the entire team, and still could. It was something that neither she nor the rest of the team, or even Raguil himself, forgot. The cameras in his cell were never turned off, and he was never allowed to leave. Raguil never asked to.

* * *

Starfire made progress in stages. Though her body had not been scarred by the creature's attack, the weakness she had awakened with proved to be slow in healing. Most of her time was spent sleeping, or with Robin in sick bay. A week after her awakening she was strong enough to walk to her own room – after which she promptly collapsed into her bed and slept for hours.

Determined to make up for lost time, Robin spent nearly all of his off-mission time with her. Even Slade and Raguil's cases took a back seat. Sometimes Cyborg would walk past her door and hear a faint giggle; once he even heard The Boy Wonder chuckling. The bionic man would only smirk, and keep walking.

Starfire never visited Raguil, even after learning of his presence and the nature of the arrangement. She seemed hesitant to see him, though for what reason she did not share. None of the team pressed her, and she did not begrudge them for their frequent visits to him.

* * *

The weeks wore on, and the Titans adapted to their new routine. Cyborg, Raven, and Robin all ran every form of test, ritual, scan, and interrogative technique they could think of, but nothing was discovered of Raguil's condition. For all intents and purposes, he was completely normal. Beast Boy even sniffed him out, but it did as little good as was expected.

This perplexed the team, but nobody was more perturbed than Raguil himself. He seemed convinced that whatever was lying within him was merely waiting. Like a venomous spider that he knew was there, but could not see, Raguil was frequently on edge about his "other self." Whenever he was alone and not reading, he would sit quietly, motionlessly. He sometimes used meditation techniques that Raven had taught him, but it was merely to calm down. He never looked within his own mind; he always feared what might lurk there. Sometimes he would wake suddenly in the night, sweating profusely, dreams full of screaming civilians and burning agony.

He was, at times, proud of what his short life had become. He had a comfortable living space; he had even made friends of a sort. But he was not at peace.

* * *

The weeks wore on, and Slade remained ever-watchful. He set Draco about with improving the reaction times and command functions on his robotic army, though he always reviewed the blueprints personally. The old man proved to be a zealous follower, but he did not go a single moment without being watched. Slade was wary of "partners," regardless of how weak they were. He had learned his lesson; allies were to be handled with caution. His last two apprentices had shown that readily enough.

Meanwhile, the sleeper virus that Draco had implanted continued to work. Slade integrated it into his factory control systems, enabling him to tap Titans Tower's systems as easily as his own. What the old man had boasted about his work was true; the entire system was slaved to his commands, and entirely undetected. Sometimes he would peer into the various hallways and chambers of the tower, planning their potential use to his advantage.

But there was one room that held his interest most of all. Raguil was never alone. Slade watched his every move, monitored his growth. He liked what he saw more every day.

So he watched. And waited.


	18. 18: Greetings

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 18 – Greetings**

_Raguil_.

Sitting alone in his room, he could not help but smile just a little. He had a name; he was labeled, part of the world. It did not matter that he was sequestered within this cell – he was visited often, supplied well with comforts, even respected. Some days were wracked with depression, shame, and fear of the beast within. Today, however, there was no pain.

Raven had visited him earlier. He liked her, even when she seemed to push him away. She was intelligent and sensitive in a way that she did often express; she understood herself, and the actions she carried out had purpose. He admired that about her; she seemed to have an almost innate understanding of good and evil. It often weighed her down, but it also gave them much to talk about. Their bond had grown such that he had even managed to make her smile once.

_But that is a story for another time,_ he thought warmly. He reached for a copy of _The Cosmic Perspective_, one of the many volumes on his personal bookshelf – a gift from Cyborg. Of all the things in his room, it was this that Raguil most cherished. It was, after all, the only thing that was truly his.

Just as he had cracked open the book, however, the buzzer at his door rang. Despite being interrupted, a thrill of excitement raced through him. He was always eager to have company. He waited for a moment, but nobody entered. This mystified him. The controls outside were more than capable of opening the doors, and usually the Titans merely let themselves in.

As he had only a handful of times before, Raguil rose to meet his guest. It must be Cyborg with his dinner, or Raven with another book – some sort of meeting that did not require entry. But as the doors slid open, he found that he was quite wrong.

Starfire stood with her hands clasped together in front of her. Her normal purple outfit brought out the slight orange tint in her skin, making her almost seem to glow. She was probably the most naturally beautiful creature that he had ever seen.

"Greetings," she said sincerely. A slight, welcoming smile pricked at the corners of her mouth.

Raguil stared at her, wide-eyed and speechless. He did not simply see her before him; he saw her in every moment of his life, even moments he had never remembered before. All at once she was aglow with green light, attacking him. She was raising her hands as his flaming claws pummeled her. She was soaring into the air, engulfed in a raging fireball. She was comatose in a bed, unmoving as the dead. And now, mercifully alive and radiant, she had come to see him.

It was too much. He fell to his knees and bent forward, weeping. His forehead nearly touched her toes; she made no move to escape or advance.

"I'm sorry," he sobbed, fists clenched against the ground. "Oh... I am so, so..." He burst fully into tears, unable to speak any longer. In her he saw the manifestation of his sins. Never had the monster within him felt so real.

* * *

Starfire gazed down at him, eyes wide, even though she understood what this meant. Robin had explained it all to her: the nature of Raguil's memories, his actions in the weeks of his confinement, even his personality. Now, seeing him prostrated before her, collapsing under guilt and anguish, she felt no anger toward him. She felt pity.

"Do not weep," she pleaded consolingly, kneeling down and putting a hand on his shoulder. "You have done nothing wrong."

"But I have," he murmured, looking up at her. He inhaled shakily. "Does it matter whether I intended it or not? Whether I wished it or not? You have endured great suffering by my hand."

"Not your hand." She smiled encouragingly. "You wish to be good, and so you are good. I am not angry with you, Raguil. I wished only to be strong enough to visit you on my own."

"You are here... to _visit_ me?"

"I am told that you do not have many memories and so may be confused. A ringing of the bell of doors is indeed an Earth custom to indicate visitation."

He paused, trying to sort the sentence through. Eventually, he seemed to decide that she meant "yes." He even looked, in a disbelieving way, happy. Tears still fell from his eyes, but she felt that they were not of sadness now.

"Of... of course," he murmured, slowly regaining himself. "Please excuse me. I haven't invited you in."

He stood slowly and somewhat unsteadily, but eventually found the strength to extend his hand to her. She took it with an ever-radiant smile, but practically stumbled into his arms when she stood. A wave of dizziness passed briefly.

His cheeks grew pink at their nearness. "Are you alright?" he asked, voice fraught with concern.

She blushed abashedly. "I am sorry; I am still not at my full strength."

"Ah... I see." Raguil swallowed, as if ashamed. "Then please, take whichever seat you like."

He led her over to one of the armchairs. Now that he had grown somewhat calmer, Starfire could see just how polite and eager to please he was. He seemed to delight – even latch onto – the chance to make her comfortable.

_He is most kind,_ she thought happily. _It is difficult to think that he was once such a _zorbnorker_._

* * *

They spoke for hours. Of all the Titans, Raguil found Starfire's stories to be the most exciting. She had seen much of the universe, and her scientific knowledge was surprising. Unlike Raven's cautious tendencies, she was naturally magnetic. He sometimes found himself almost forgetting what he had done to her. She was obliging, sincere, and easily fascinated by most anything he mentioned.

Still, no matter how they got along, her strength eventually gave out. Raguil looked up from the passage of _The Cosmic Perspective_ that he had been reading aloud, only to find the young princess quietly asleep on his armchair. He gave a soft, contented sigh and quietly closed the book. Being sure not to wake her, he quietly made his way to the intercom near the door of his cell.

He called the Boy Wonder's room directly. "Robin? She's ready, and quite tired; you might wish to come yourself."

* * *

"How'd it go?"

Robin had arrived only a few minutes after Raguil had summoned him. Starfire remained unawakened by the door's opening hiss, curled comfortably in an armchair. Raguil smiled.

"Better than I would have ever imagined," he said softly, coming to meet the Boy Wonder in the doorway. "She is... special, to have forgiven me so easily. I do not feel worthy of her friendship."

Robin smirked. "She's special alright. She surprised all of us when she told us she wanted to see you."

"Yes... you are lucky." Robin raised his eyebrows, and Raguil smirked in kind. "She has informed me of your relationship. I wish the best for both of you."

He inclined his head. Robin blushed.

"Oh, uh... thanks." He looked uncomfortably at Starfire. "I should probably wake her up, huh?"

"Oh, yes; of course." Raguil stood aside, but his features became quickly pensive as Robin moved by him. He caught his cape as he passed.

"Robin?" he asked. The Boy Wonder turned around, but it was many seconds before Raguil continued. "The tests that Raven and Cyborg have performed on me... have they revealed anything?"

Robin frowned. The scarred creases in his face deepened, and Raguil felt a customary wave of guilt.

"...No. We're still waiting on a few, but we would've informed you if we found anything."

"Ah." He almost sounded choked. "Then my condition... remains unsolved."

"Believe me, we want it over as quickly as you do. We don't want you cooped up like this."

"It is not that that worries me, Robin."

"The cameras haven't picked up any behavior to suggest that you're a risk-"

"The cameras do not see everything," Raguil replied solemnly. "My dreams are haunting. The curtain around my bed gives me privacy, but it also shields what my dreams make so clear. Every few nights, just when the weight of my curse is furthest from my mind, I find destruction. Blue fire, a massive presence that I cannot explain... visions of ancient battles past. Memories, but not _my_ memories. I am _not_ alone in here." He gestured to his heart, then cast his eyes downward.

Robin put a hand to his shoulder.

"We've never failed a case before, Raguil. We won't stop until this mystery is solved."'

Raguil smiled weakly at that. He cast his eyes to Starfire.

"You know," he murmured, "it is moments like these that make me believe you."


	19. 19: Metal and Flesh

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 19 – Metal and Flesh**

Starfire sighed contentedly and snuggled deeper into Robin's side. He smirked, leaning on the sofa's arm in the middle of the living room. They hadn't spoken for at least ten minutes, but they didn't need to. She seemed absolutely content just to use him as a teddy bear while the eight o'clock news ran on the T.V. He could have been working with Raguil, but anything he hadn't tried would be a stretch at best. For now, he could let it all wait. After all, not everyone had alien royalty as a girlfriend.

"_Welcome back to News Center Seven,"_ the plasma screen blared. A crew-cutted news anchor folded a packet of paper onto his desk as he addressed the camera. "_It is well-known that Jump City has been threatened, various times, by criminals of a... high degree. For years, however, it has also benefited from the protection of the popularly named Teen Titans, who have always seemed to be able to keep these threats under control."_

Images of Cinderblock, Overload, and Plasmus flashed beside the anchor, along with an action shot of the team. Robin straightened slightly, interest piqued. He glanced at Starfire; her expression had a relaxation to it, and her breathing matched his suspicion. She was dozing. He turned up the volume a few bars, just below what he thought might wake her.

"_However, with a handful of recent events, including the attack of a mysterious blue creature that the Titans continue to hold in custody, public opinion has asked the question: how long can we rely on vigilantes, regardless of how benevolent, to protect us? Can the Titans delay our legal process like this? And is it good for the citizens of Jump City?_

_ "It seems that one company has seen fit to think of an alternate option to the Teen Titans, and other vigilante heroes like them. Jorge Rodrigues is on the scene at Relicorp Headquarters. Jorge?"_

"_Yes, Roger. I'm here at Relicorp Headquarters, where brand-new technology is in development for use by our own Jump City Police Department."_

The reporter had black hair that was spiked at the front. Behind him was a massive facade; Robin vaguely recognized it. A metallic statue of a middle-to-late aged-man stood before the building's large, double revolving doors.

Relicorp was an up-and-coming corporation in defense technology, and had made itself rich off of the government's contracts for a couple years now. He'd never known it to keep such a high profile, though.

"_As anyone that follows the military news knows, the ground-breaking unveiling of Relicorp's newest development is still leaving tremors. Law-enforcement officers will now be able to take advantage of advanced battle-suits to bring their ability to fight crime to all-new levels."_

Another image appeared in the corner of the screen as Jorge spoke. Robin's eyes widened; a large, chrome-white behemoth was standing before a small group of engineers as they pored over the ten-foot-tall giant. The armor was sleek, with a caged, plexiglass dome where a torso should be. Robin assumed it to be the chassis for an operator.

Suddenly, the screen flashed to a recording. A slim, slightly aged man – the same that had been built into a statue before Relicorp's headquarters – stood before the press with his gnarled hands gripping the podium tightly.

"_The Relisuits will give the Jump City police force new abilities to combat the threats that the city faces on a day-to-day basis," _he said. His words were measured and spoken with a slight southwestern accent. "_They are not intended to fight ordinary criminals, merely extreme dangers to the city. It is time that we defended ourselves from the threats that face us, and Relicorp is dedicated to that goal."_

The transmission was swiftly redirected to Jorges.

"_Unfortunately, Relicorp CEO William Schmitt, whose statue is visible behind us, was not available for comment. But one thing is clear: with the Relisuits appearing in deployment one week from now, crime fighting in Jump City is due for a big change."_

The anchor appeared back on the screen, nodding as he scribbled on the pad of folded paper.

"_Thanks, Jorges, and I'm sure that Relicorp will-"_

Robin instinctively turned the screen off as Starfire stirred beside him.

"Mmmm... greetings," she murmured sleepily. "Have I been doing the napping for long?"

"Not really," he replied. "There wasn't anything good on, that's all."

"Is the Seventh Center of News not always interesting for you?"

He chuckled, trying to juggle her attention with the new concerns on his mind. Battle suits? In the police force? Why hadn't he heard about this before?

"Not always. Sometimes there are more interesting things going on."

She blushed and averted her eyes. It was adorable, and it almost put the news report out of his mind.

"And what is so interesting now?"

"Well, I've always had a thing for extraterrestrial conspiracies."

She giggled. He felt a little burst of excitement from his success; he was starting to get good at this smooth-talking thing. Feeling a bit braver, he pulled a lock of orange hair off her face. Emerald eyes gazed back at him, still somewhat drowsy; it gave her an entranced look that made him long for her even more.

"Robin..." she murmured, dragging herself up to his face. Their lips met; her face was warm and flushed with emotion. He felt a familiar pull against the embrace, against the passion. It was against everything Bruce had taught him: never let your guard down. Danger was cold, metallic; it did not care whether or not you felt happiness or fear.

But he ignored what Bruce had taught him. Starfire was real, here, in the flesh. She was not a theory or a suspicion, not a distant threat. The metal suits could wait, for a few minutes at least. He had learned new lessons since Bruce, and one was to never let the metal overcome the flesh.


	20. 20: Meditation

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 20 – Meditation**

"It didn't work, did it?"

Raven closed the tome she had been examining with a thud. She sighed at Raguil's question.

"No. It didn't."

He merely fidgeted, sitting cross-legged inside the chalk symbol she had drawn for the ritual. His white hair had grown out now; it was almost at the level of his neck. He was shaving regularly. Pale stubble gave him a rough, grizzled look.

"I am starting to think that nothing you try may bear fruit, then."

"And I _know _it won't," she replied. "That was the last idea I had. And I didn't even think it _would_ work; it's a spell to detect simple illusions. The only way it would have done anything is if you weren't really here."

He glanced up at her briefly with his piercing blue eyes. There was defeat in them.

"What is wrong with me?" he wondered aloud, covering his face with his hands. "It is maddening, Raven. I know the danger within me to be real, but... I can prove _nothing_."

In the midst of the intricate chalk island on the floor, he looked as alone in body as in mind. She felt true pity for him, not as a case, but as a friend. In his brief existence, Raven felt almost as closely bonded to Raguil as her teammates. He had made himself a fixture here, a part of their family.

"I can't imagine what it must be like," she murmured, suddenly open to him. She left her books on the table and sat across from him. "Even as a little girl, I knew what I was, no matter how horrible it was. But you have..."

He held her eyes somberly, and she trailed off, not wanting to sound insensitive.

"I have nothing," he finished, his voice steady. "Raven, I have had a happy life. I do not remember if there is a before for me... but my present is glorious. I have made wonderful friends, and perhaps made even a humble home. These are gifts I do not deserve." His eyes squinted slightly, as if holding back tears. "My only fear, the fear that plagues me, is that I will _destroy_ all of it."

This, she could understand. She had felt that crushing dread for years, its inevitability, the way it clung to your identity like a wretched leech. A certain lucidity came to her with that knowledge; a lucidity that, for the first time, she felt compelled to share.

"I know it feels hopeless right now, but I used to be where you are," she said in a tone that could be construed as gentle. He had that effect on her. "I was destined to destroy the world, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Even my mother told me so."

Raguil's gaze became questioning. She had hinted at this before, but never in such detail.

"My father is... was... Trigon, Trigon the Terrible. He was going to use me as a portal to the mortal world, and it was prophesied that he would succeed. I went through my entire life knowing that he would win, and he did.

"But even after he had used me, even after he destroyed who I am, my friends still believed in me. They kept fighting, and they saved me." She actually smiled at the memory. Raguil looked at her solemnly; he understood the sanctity of what she had shared.

Suddenly, and without the conscientiousness that she normally had, she reached out with her mind. She had not dared to do so since their battle; she had feared to be ambushed or controlled, used as a tool in the event that Raguil was a liar.

But this time, it was different. She felt no fear, no trepidation, as their minds brushed gently together. When she approached him, he made no move to push her away. His mind was cool and smooth, almost perfect in its shape. She could feel the sharpness of his acuity, the tremors of his doubt, and the warmth of his gratitude. It was like being immersed in soothing mist on a hot summer's day.

She felt a wave of joy radiate from him, like a mental smile. She saw the faces of Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg. She saw Starfire smile back at her, and she saw her own face last of all. But it was... not quite her face. There was something unusual about it...

She was smiling.

Raguil's memories continued. Her face gave way to the small bookshelf that Cyborg had given him, then the cell in which he lived. In his mind, however, it felt more like a home than a cell.

In response to his memories, she found herself volunteering her own. She instinctively tugged back at them for a moment, but something within convinced her to let them go. She recalled feeding pigeons in Azarath, hugging Beast Boy outside her room, having breakfast with the Titans after her father's defeat. Raguil absorbed them all, watching quietly alongside her. Then, something flashed to the both of them unexpectedly: she could see the two of them, sitting across from one another on a symbol of chalk drawn on the floor. She was leaning toward him, hand to his cheek, as they stared into one another's eyes.

She suddenly came back to herself. Her hand had indeed reached to touch his cheek, and his had risen to hold it there. She blinked in slight surprise. When she withdrew, physically and mentally, he made no attempt to halt her.

"Thank you," he murmured, blushing. She could feel her own cheeks warm as well. For a while, neither of them spoke; they didn't need to. Then, again, he broke the silence.

"You give me hope, Raven. But still I know not what to do; I feel lost."

"The secret to finding out what happened to you isn't up to us. Self-discovery is just that. The only person that can solve your mystery is you."

"But how?" He looked at her hopelessly. "There is no action that I know to take."

"Have you tried meditating?" she asked. He gave her a haunted look.

"Not in the sense that you have described. If I look into myself, I may not be able to control what I find. You know this."

"Yes," she agreed. "But you'll be stuck like this forever if you refuse to confront it."

Raguil opened his mouth to retort, but seemed to think better of it. He sighed.

"I do not wish to endanger you."

She held him in her gaze appraisingly. It surprised her how easily her next words escaped.

"Do you remember, when I first met you, how I said I didn't believe in you?"

"I recall everything we have said to each other, and I know that that is not what you meant."

"I did, at the time," she said. "But I was wrong."

His eyes widened a fraction, then dropped. She almost felt a layer of ice break in his mind.

"We want to see you healed," she continued. "But you have to help us."

The bones in Raguil's jaw became apparent as he clenched it.

"I... I will need some time to think," he said slowly, not making eye contact with her. "For now... you have worked long and hard on me. Perhaps it would be best for both of us to retire."


	21. 21: Terra Firma

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 21 – Terra Firma**

_William Schmitt..._

Johann repeated the name in his head, rehearsing it as he always did. He had been that man for so long... it was hard to recall that he had had another life before, a glorious life of science. Now, walking amongst Relicorp's powered-down battle suits, dressed in the business attire he had learned to be comfortable in, the past seemed more fantasy than fact.

But he remembered _her -_ the masterful experiment that had gotten away. He recalled the cheers in the lab when he discovered the childrens' powers had been implanted. He had created the warriors of the future; it had been his crowning achievement.

But then, so sudden in recollection, he had lost it all. The indoctrination process had failed, and they... she... had escaped. Caught by the confessions of his creation, and devoid of any way to buy his freedom, he had fallen from grace, even faced prison. He had only narrowly escaped by lying hidden for years.

But he had found her again. She was last seen _here,_ and now he had the resources to hunt her down once and for all. First, however, there was the call.

As expected, Johann's cell phone began to buzz in his pocket. He checked the digital clock on the warehouse wall; eight o'clock precisely. Lukas was, if anything, punctual.

"_Hello_?" he asked in the language of his country. His accent was distinctly different from the dull, slightly southwestern drone that he adopted on-camera. He sounded almost Russian.

"_Greetings, brother_," came a similar, younger voice from the other side of the line. "_How goes the Product's release?_"

"_As well as expected,"_ Johann replied. "_The city is growing a convenient sentiment against the Teen Titans. They are almost eager for the suits' establishment."_

"_Perfect. And the scanners? They are operational?"_

_ "And untraceable. The Jump City Police Department will never know how much they will help us."_

"_And the Product itself? Powerful weapons to leave in their hands when we are finished."_

_ "Insignificant to what we will gain, should our mission succeed. But there is a kill code."_

"_Our mission _will_ succeed, brother. It must, if Markovia is to be reborn."_

"_Very well then," _Johann replied. He masked the irritation in his voice. _The young brat thinks he can preach to me..._ "_If you are so reliant on success, then, have you any evidence to suggest her location?"_

_ "That is your role, no?" _Lukas responded curtly. _"I have my tasks in the operation, but tracking her is not one of them."_

_ "The Product's sudden launch is a significant investment for a lack of proof." _Johann's expression hardened on his end of the line. "_I have furthered our cause since you were in diapers, Lukas. Do not lie to me. Is she here, or no?"_

There was silence. Communication with Lukas was always a game of intimidation; make yourself hard enough, and you got what you wanted.

"_If I recall correctly, it is _because_ of you that our cause is so behind schedule," _Lukas intoned. "_But, if it pleases your aging mind, then know this: Geo-Force was spotted two months ago in the city. He would not be here without cause."_

The call terminated before Johann had a chance to answer. The graying man snorted and hung up, sliding the phone into his pocket. As abrasive as Lukas was, his call had borne fruit: she was still here.

Relicorp's CEO strode to the nearest wall and flicked a switch. Giant floodlights suddenly exploded to life along the warehouse's long ceiling. Dozens of ten-foot-tall, chrome forms gleamed in their light. He smiled at their symmetry and complexity: the bulbous "heads" that contained a myriad of sensors, the caged cavity in the torso that housed would-be pilots, the flexible arms and legs that housed over a dozen weapon compartments between them. The Relitech suits were his greatest engineering creation, yet they were merely a tool to a greater end.

Deep within the robots' spherical heads was every variety of sensor ever built. What seemed like new toys to the police would be Johann's eyes and ears, positioned all over the city. He would have all the surveillance he needed to find her; for here she was. Her brother had seen to that.

"_Terra firma_," he murmured, in the southwestern slurr of William Schmitt. _"Terra firma_, indeed."


	22. 22: The Power Within

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 22 – The Power Within**

Quiet. It defined the room as Raguil sat motionlessly in its center. He was cross-legged inside the symbol that Raven had drawn yesterday; her words, similarly, had not faded.

_"Maybe the secret to finding out what happened to you isn't up to us. Self-discovery is just that. Maybe the only person that can solve your mystery is you."_

The implication made him clench his jaw. He knew the danger of cavorting with whatever lurked inside of him, even in the quest to cure himself.

_But what _is_ it?_

The question had bothered him more than once. He had not told a single lie during his examination. He had no idea what was wrong with him – only instinctive knowledge that he was _extremely_ dangerous. But he did not know _how_.

"Rrrgh." He clenched his fists, trying to filter out his frustration. Even if he followed Raven's advice… it pained him even to consider it. The image of Starfire, comatose in the tower's sick bay, made him queasy with guilt. That could never happen again.

_But in the end... what will you do?_

The others had exhausted their options. It had never been spoken, but his time as a leech would soon be over. Their hospitality could only be provided with purpose... and he would be far more dangerous in a prison.

_Desperate times call for desperate measures._

He had read that, somewhere, though from which book he could not recall. Whatever the case, he agreed with it now.

Raguil took a deep, calming breath and placed his hands on his knees. He sat erect, drawing deep inhalations. He closed his eyes, and began to do as Raven had recommended. One by one, outside thoughts were phased out. He suddenly realized that he had no mantra, as Raven had mentioned. The thought was rapidly followed by words that, though they made no sense to him, seemed to carry calming significance.

"Yana... Achros... Archael... Yana... Achros... Archael..."

The rhythm soon occupied all his subconscious; he was free to ruminate on whatever he liked. He floated in the mental nothingness for a time. It was soothing and...

He was not alone. The realization almost broke him from his trance. He quickly wiped his mind to regain control.

_My mind_.

The presence he had detected was not another at all; it was his own. He was observing his own mind from the outside. Without conscious thought, he reached into it as if it were that of another's. He found it accepting of contact, and as he peered deeper, he saw all the signs of himself. Memories flashed before him, as well as snippets of his own musings and decisions. He felt warm affection, spiky fear, and soothing calm. It was the brief history of his life, carved into a few condensed sensations.

Then, like a passing shadow in the night, something slid against him. Instinctively he knew that the contact was mental, but the sensation was very physical indeed – and it was not his own mind this time.

_What are you?!_

He heard – or did he feel – a rumbling growl reverberate through his being.

_Anger..._

* * *

"Uh... Raven?"

A quick glance revealed that Cyborg had indeed called her name, though he kept his eyes firmly glued to the cell's surveillance monitor. The two of them had been on watch duty for the last hour and a half, given Raguil's recent complaints of vivid, violent dreams. Her first emotion was irritation; the book she had been reading was excellent.

"Yes?" she asked flatly. Cyborg typed a command for the camera; he still did not look at her. His slight frown of confusion was worrying.

"You might wanna take a look at this."

She closed the book with a sharp _thup_, floating over to the monitor.

"What could he possibly be doing that-"

She cut herself off mid-sentence at what she saw. Raguil sat, cross-legged, in the middle of the symbol she had drawn yesterday. Cyborg had zoomed the camera onto his face; it glistened with sweat, and twitched with obvious strain. His jaw was set.

"Raven... do you know what's goin' on in there?"

She looked at Cyborg almost guiltily. He returned her gaze with an expression so grave that he looked ten years older.

She turned back to the monitor. Worry began to strive for freedom in her breast. Raguil was suffering, and soon, they might be as well.

"I..." she tried to answer Cyborg, but she could not look away from the image. "I hope not."

* * *

_Raguil fought to keep his panic under control. He could no longer sense his body; he had been entirely enveloped within the confines of mental space. Somehow, however, he knew that the entity within remained imprisoned._

_ They were trapped together._

_ "What do you want?" he demanded in as even a tone as possible. He was standing in a dark, shadowy room. Objects lied off to one corner or another, but he did not notice what they were. It didn't matter; only one thing here was of interest to him._

_ "I want to be freeeeeee..."_

_ The voice was deep and coarse. If rocks could speak, he imagined that it might sound similarly._

_ "How can you be free? I can try to help you, if you just-"_

_ "You cannot help..."_

_ Raguil was suddenly enveloped in intense dread. He spun about, but a flicker of blue light was all he managed to capture out of the corner of his eye. It soon vanished._

_ "W-why?" he asked._

Stay calm..._ he thought internally._

_ "You cannot hide your thoughts from me..." the voice answered. "We are one. Yet you imprison meeee... and I grow... ANGRY!"_

_ The room was suddenly ablaze with light. Raguil saw it as it set upon him: a monstrous, flaming nightmare of a beast. Horns curved from its skull-like head; hooked claws reached out for him._

NO!

* * *

All at once, reality seemed to shift. The shadow-room faded, as did the creature. Raguil saw his cell, the symbol, and everything else in a torrent of confused vision. He panted and reached out, trying to touch something solid, _anything_ solid, to regain a sense of reality.

But something was wrong. The burning... the presence of that nightmare... had not gone away.

_RELEASE MEEE! DO NOT-_

"NO!" Raguil shouted. Burning swelled up in his veins. He clenched his fists, only to find that his fingers carved furrows into the floor. It might as well have been butter.

_YOU CANNOT ESCAPE ME! WE ARE ONE! WE ARE-_

"Get... AWAY!"

Raguil roared at the top of his lungs. The burning sensation flooded into his arm. He saw his blood vessels glow bright blue beneath his skin, and then the room was filled with. Energy lanced outward from his hand, striking a wall with a shriek. The mystic wards on the cell rippled as the energies collided.

Then, miraculously, the burning faded. The voice roared again, but this time it was a fraction of itself.

_Release me! You cannot avoid what you are! We are one. We are one... we are..._

Raguil's heart was pounding. He suddenly remembered to inhale.

_It's... is it...?_

"_Alert! Alert! Dangerous activity level. Target ID: Raguil. Command: neutralize."_

Raguil's eyes widened. The security system of the cell!

* * *

"Cyborg!"

"I know!"

Raven practically leapt back from the monitor to make way for him. He leapt to the controls with surprising alacrity, madly trying to deactivate the laser turrets that were already dropping down from the cell's ceiling.

_If those attack him..._ She didn't want to even consider it. Those weapons would either kill him or activate his powers completely – not favorable prospects.

"_Turret system: deactivated. Power web: deactivated. Electrostatic field: deactivated."_

The computer buzzed back the commands faster than she could register their purpose. Cyborg's brow was knit with focus; finally, the last directive went through.

"_Threat response: neutralized. Target activity level: secure."_

Cyborg let out an audible sigh and leaned back. Raven swallowed, inwardly embarrassed at the panic she had felt. She buried both emotions; she would deal with them later.

_He and I have to talk._

Raguil was still caught in a crouch, looking warily about from his position on the floor. That aside, however, he was unchanged.

He had been into the abyss and come back.

* * *

Slade watched the telescreen with rapt attention. Slowly, but surely, Raguil began to stand up. Then, realizing that the weapons systems would not harm him, he actually smirked; a quick sigh of relief escaped him.

Slade's eye narrowed. He had his foundation.

"'Threat response: neutralized,'?" he thought aloud. "I don't think so. Not anymore."

A plate on his suit's wrist unfolded to reveal a small auditory pad. Leaning back in the chair in which he sat, Slade spoke the most powerful words of his life.

"Target ID: Raguil. Command: neutralize."


	23. 23: Assault

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 23: Assault**

"What?! No, NO!"

Cyborg swore at the top of his lungs in a tone that unsettled even Raven. The control panel suddenly began to light up again. On the other side of the alloy wall, she could hear the grinding of heavy machinery.

"What's happening?" she demanded. "I thought you turned it off!"

"I _did_!" he snapped back. He lowered a chrome hand to touch the keyboard, but before he could even make full contact, electricity leapt out of the console and struck them both.

Raven felt the simultaneous sensation of ice and fire course through her as she was hurled back by the shock. Cyborg, more susceptible to electric attacks than she, went limp for a moment, crashing onto the floor with a heavy _clang_. Her muscles convulsed without thought; for a second, she panicked. Black energy enveloped the computer system, and the machinery exploded.

_No! Keep... Azarath... Metrion..._

She reigned in her emotions almost forcefully. _Think. You don't have much time._

"_Target ID: Raguil. Command: Attack." _the computer's voice blared across the tower's loudspeaker. She widened her eyes. The computer was being overridden!

* * *

Raguil froze, eyes wide. The turrets continued to lower from the ceiling; their barrels began to glow red. It was not going to stop.

"Raven?! Anyone!" he cried. The lasers fired.

Some deep instinct took hold of him then, and he dove to the side. The white symbol was soon incinerated by boiling heat rays. Nauseatingly hot air washed over him, accompanied by the screech of liquefying metal.

Then it came back. The burning in his veins commenced again, stronger than before. It blossomed from his fear.

_YOU WILL NOT SUFFICE!_

A wracking pain rifled through his body as the demon tried to seize control. Raguil doubled over with the struggle; all the while, the lasers recharged.

"Stop it, someone! I can't keep control... much longer. NOW!"

* * *

"Raguil!" Raven gasped, seeing the bright flash of the lasers inside the cell. She raised her hand; the bullet-proof plexiglass window to the cell shattered like peanut brittle under the force of her spell. She sped inside without so much as looking at Cyborg.

_Systems rebooting_, intoned a mechanical voice in his head. Feeling rushed back into Cyborg's limbs; he clenched his fists and leapt to his feet.

"Raven!" he cried. The entire surveillance room flashed brilliantly as the lasers fired again; this time, however, the beams were somehow deflected. Bright red bolts zipped at him through the window; one barely missed his head.

"Damn!" he growled. Someone had gotten into the tower's core systems, and he had a feeling he knew exactly who. Only one other person had wended into them before. Snarling, he slammed his fist into the room's panic button.

* * *

Robin paced quietly about Starfire's room. She sat in her bed all the while, scribbling onto a sketchpad. She'd taken up the habit of drawing with so much rest and downtime; it was mostly unicorns and portraits of Silkie, but she'd done decently by that vein. He, on the other hand, had started to undertake more concerning matters.

The Titans' public profile was at an all-time low. Raguil's attack on Main Street had caused much damage and injury; that they had sheltered him in their tower was widely considered an overreach of their power at best, and crime conspiracy at worst.

_But what do I tell them?_ he thought. _"Oops, looks like the person that murdered your children was possessed by a demon at the time, so... later then!"? No outsider would understand the situation we're in. Maybe if we can at least get him cured...but we'd have to know what's wrong with him first…_

_ WAAAANG!_

Starfire yelped at the sudden blaring of the alarm; she accidentally soared upward, striking her head off of the ceiling. "Ow…"

Robin found himself wheeling toward the door, bird-arang in hand.

"_Warning! Warning! Security threat on Level 2! Security-"_

Then, as quickly as it had come, the alarm stopped. It was as if it had been... cut off somehow.

But he knew that it was no glitch. Raguil's cell was on Level 2.

* * *

"Raguil! You have to fight it! Keep control!" Raven said as loudly as she could, floating between him and the turrets. They fired again; she swept her hand in front of her, creating a shield that deflected the beams away. Dozens of barrels had been lowered from the ceiling; positioned as she was, she had to admit they were imposing. The defenses here had been designed to contain Raguil in his demonic form; at this point, they might incinerate him on the spot.

But she wouldn't let that happen.

"_Threat remains. Increasing power level twenty percent."_

Raven's lips parted.

"Uhhh..."

The lasers fired again, brighter than before. She was driven back by their power; her energy shield cracked under the barrage.

_No..._ She gritted her teeth, fighting to keep the shield intact. "Azarath Metrion _Zinthos_!"

Energy sliced through some of the steel beams holding the turrets up, causing them to fall in bunches. Cyborg's sonic cannon fired through the shattered window into the cell, causing a few more to explode. Shrapnel rained down on her shield, but it did not touch her.

"The alarm got cut off!" he yelled through the window. "I don't know if the others even know what's goin' on down here! Someone got into the computer – we got zero control right now!"

_Then it looks like we're doing this the hard way._

Raven frowned with concentration. A minute shield formed around the barrel of a firing cannon, redirecting its energy onto itself. What resulted was a spectacular combustion that took out a handful of turrets around it.

* * *

Slade frowned. These two were slowing down the process; many of the cell's cameras had been taken out in the struggle, giving him only limited. Furthermore, they were having surprising success at staving off their own tower's attacks – giving Raguil a chance to control himself.

That, above all, was unacceptable.

"Target ID: Raven. Command entry: Power web."

There was a sizzling sound from outside of his field of vision. The corresponding yell of pain from the enchantress was most... satisfying. After all, the two of them had history.

Slade calmly raised his other wrist to his mask and spoke into the nearly microscopic microphone attached to it.

"Draco, the Titans will soon be ready for you. You have your orders."

There was a faint pause, followed by a slightly tremulous voice on the other end.

"...Yes, Master Slade."

"_Raven!_" Cyborg's voice hollered through the camera's audio receiver.

"Oh, and Draco?"

"Yes, Master-"

"Do _not_ fail me."

"... Yes, of-of course."

* * *

Raven cringed under another volley of lasers. She was near her breaking point; the power level had been upped another forty percent. They might be destroying the turrets, but they simply got more powerful in turn.

"GAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

A mental scream rang out in accompaniment of Raguil's cry. She could see, out of the corner of her eye, that he was rocking back and forth on the floor. Tiny tufts of whitish smoke had begun to issue from underneath him.

_He's losing,_ she thought. In a moment of clarity made possible only by the intense pressure of her situation, she speared her own consciousness into his mind.

_Fight it! Don't let it win!_ she told him as forcefully as possible, wrapping around the familiar contours of Raguil's mind.

_Rav... Raven... he's so..._

Then, a white hot flash of emotion slammed into her like a tsunami. She had felt it before.

_GEEET OOOUUUUT! _it roared. She was hopelessly outmatched by the sheer power of her foe; it rivaled Trigon's in strength. She felt her body drop a meter or so from where it hovered. The world was a whirling flare of bright red flashes and colors. Where was she? What had happened? The disorientation made her nauseated.

"_Target ID: Raven. Command entry: Power web."_

_What?!_

Her vision finally returned to focus, just in time to hear the hiss of flying projectiles. She looked to her right – an octagon of electric bullets, each with red energy "strings" linking them into a net, was flying toward her. The web ensnared her before she could react; she went flying sideways. The force of the trap slammed her into the wall.

"Oof!" she coughed. The energy lines fitted tightly to her body, making all but the slightest movements impossible, while the bullets embedded themselves into the wall and held her suspended there. Her concentration broken, the shield faded, revealing a dozen or so fully-charged laser turrets.

"Raven!" Cyborg exclaimed. He reached out to her from where he stood in the shattered window frame, as if he could somehow help her from up there.

But Raven had far more pressing concerns. Raguil arched backward with a cry; beneath his flesh, his veins could be seen glowing blue.

"Raguil!" she shouted desperately.

The lasers fired; Raguil was covered in bloody red light.


	24. 24: Battery

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 24 – Battery**

_NO!_

Raguil vanished in the lasers' red light. Raven could feel their scorching power from where she was pinned; it was overwhelming. So nightmarish was the vision of watching him be disintegrated that she could do nothing but reject the thought. He couldn't be dead.

"_RAAAAAGHHHH!_"

A roar shook the cell walls. Blue fire expanded from Raguil's position, pushing back the red light of the lasers. It formed a bubble, protecting its inhabitant from danger. Raven felt the impulse to hope that Raguil was consciously using his powers. He quickly proved her wrong.

The flames exploded spontaneously outward, pulverizing the turrets with ease. The energy wave coursed through the entire cell; Raven barely had time to erect a small defensive shield before she was sent hurtling away. The power web did nothing to hold her from the force of the explosion. She cried out in agony, as if she were submerged in acid. The powerful energy ate away at her shielding until it slammed her against the back wall of the cell. There was a sharp pain in the back of her head – then nothing.

* * *

The creature advanced on the sorceress's body, crumpled on the cell floor. It was wreathed once again in delicious fire, as was every remaining object in the room. It felt good to be free again, no longer trapped in the recesses of a fragile mind. Imprisonment now felt so familiar, it was hard to know what to do when free. Freedom was power; it gave so much new autonomy. For the first time in decades, it could do as it pleased. But what?

The sorceress returned to its thoughts. This girl had poked and prodded them for weeks, trying to find a "flaw." It was many things, but it was no flaw. It knew this, even if its host did not. But now, after all that poking and prodding, it would return the favor.

"Yo! You ain't touchin' her!"

The creature looked up – right into a sonic cannon blast. Solid sound pummeled it backward, sending it skidding across the floor. Boiling fury rose up within the creature. _Sound?_ The metal man believed that it could be defeated with _sound_?

Strength flowed into its legs. The room rushed past as it leapt upward, over the sonic beam and through the window in which the metal man stood.

"Woah!"

He dove aside to make way, but it was faster. It grasped his ankle with a claw; he was pitifully light.

_Disgusting_!

The creature threw him into a wall – or, rather, _through_ a wall. The combat filled it with energy – blue flames poured from its frenzied soul, covering and melting everything. It roared in the exuberance of battle.

"Hey ugly – try burning _this_!"

A hard metal rod slammed into its head with a metallic clang. The creature growled and turned to the source of the attack, but it was struck again in the jaw. It stumbled back, infuriated.

_ENOUGH!_

The new attacker was familiar; dressed in red and green, he carried the scars of their last battle. He swung the metal staff again. The creature snatched it out of the air; he could do with a few more scars for his impetuousness.

Anger rose higher within, melting the metal rod by the flames it created. The beast lashed out at the young man, but he somersaulted away. This only incensed it further, however, and it roared after him. Energy blasted from its distended maw, coating half the room in corrosive fire.

* * *

"Robin!"

Starfire tackled her boyfriend down a side-hall, narrowly evading the wave of flame as it melted the contents of the surveillance center. Despite their intensity, they emitted no heat.

"Star, I told you to stay in your room!" he shouted over the all-too close roar.

"I could not! You require assistance!"

"You're not strong enough! This thing's-"

A heavy, metallic pounding interrupted him. She looked down the hall to see the creature barreling toward them. Robin stepped in front of her and tossed a disk from his utility belt.

"Cover your eyes!" he commanded. The next second filled the hall with brilliant white light that burned even through her radiation-proofed eyelids. There was a terrible bellow of frustration, and the sound of tearing metal. Starfire opened her eyes to see Robin charging the beast as it blindly tore through the hallway walls.

"Hrah!"

Robin landed a roundhouse kick onto its jaw, sending it spinning backward. He moved in for another hit, but a single, backhanded sweep of its muscled arm sent him flying – hard – into what was left of the wall. He limply remained there.

Then it turned its eyes on her.

_YOU..._

The thought blared through her mind like a Gragorian trumpet. Unused to mental contact, she fell to her knees as the tidal force of emotion drilled into her brain. She tried to call upon her star bolts, to defend herself, to do _anything_, but she could not. Panic ran amok within her heart.

_I DESTROYED YOU..._

Her bones shook as a roar blasted through the tower. Balls of blue fire rocketed from the beast's claws, striking her with enough force to send her ricocheting backward. As before, she felt neither pain nor heat – merely numbness, unlike anything she had ever known before. Her memories of the last battle blossomed unbidden, paralyzing her. She recalled the continuous pummeling, the endless savagery. She recalled how she had withdrawn into herself, wishing for nothing else but for it to stop.

The creature strode almost confidently toward her. She tried to move, but her body would not respond. It would happen again! She would not wake up this time! Fear overwhelmed her, fear unlike anything she had ever known before. She saw death coming – or worse, endless limbo in a hospital bed. She would never speak to Robin again.

It was almost upon her. She curled into a fetal position.

_No!_ she pleaded. _Please..._

* * *

_This is taking too long_, Slade thought starkly. He could not risk Raguil regaining control before he had left the tower.

"Target ID: Raguil. Command: Stun turret, Hall 2E."

Blue lasers struck the flaming body a second later. It roared its irritation, but backpedaled under the continuous stream of light. Slade knew that, assuming he could feel at all in such a state, Raguil would perceive stinging and numbing agony from those beams. As expected, the assault was not effective for long; a blast of fire was enough to decimate the turrets and blind the camera through which Slade observed. He took the inconvenience in stride, activating more security and transferring to one of the few remaining cameras.

"Very good, Raguil," he said, steepling his fingers under his chin. "Let your anger boil over. Blow right out of that tower. Right to _me_."

* * *

Cyborg ripped the wall apart, forcing his way back into the burning surveillance room.

_Can't believe I let that glowing blue..._ he thought furiously. He had gotten his ass handed to him – _again_. Hard to believe someone as mild as Raguil had such a mean streak.

"_Target ID: Raguil. Command: Stun turret, Hall 2E._"

A bright flash of light issued from a nearby hallway, followed by a roar of anger. He knew instantly what had happened; the turrets he'd installed did more than just shoot to kill. In fact, they were designed to stun – though somehow he doubted that they would do the trick this time.

But why? Why would whoever had control of the tower, especially if it was who he thought it was, be helping them?

Cyborg charged toward the hall, but the creature was out first. It backed out of the doorway with its arms raised in front of it for protection. Blue lasers peppered its fiery hide. Before Cyborg could act, it hurled a blue fireball into the hallway. He heard Starfire scream in surprise as the attack detonated.

"Star!" He snarled and charged Raguil's possessor. The creature turned, but not before a quarter-ton of man and metal trucked into it. The two of them went tumbling across the floor, but he still managed to land on top.

"That – is – it!" he yelled, slamming his chrome fist into the creature's face between each syllable. It had attacked Raven. It had attacked them all. It was hurting Raguil.

It had to go.

His last punch forced the creature's head back so hard that it dented the floor. He clasped his hands together over his head and swung both at once; the blow had enough force to shatter diamond, but the creature raised its arms and stopped him mid-swing. The force with which it pushed back was incredible. They remained there, trapped in limbo, for several seconds. His sensors read that he was pushing enough to lift a hill, but the creature matched it. The floor cracked as they pushed; a bead of sweat ran down his face.

Then it roared again. For the first time, Cyborg could see down its throat – or rather, the fire shooting out of it. He went flying through the ceiling on a geyser of blue.

"Gah!" he gasped, slamming into the floor of Level 3. Beside him, the chrome alloy of the floor had caved upward; there was literally a Cyborg-shaped hole in the floor.

"_Target ID: Raguil. Command: Suppression laser."_

Red light shone through the hole. The creature howled, followed by the screech of broken metal. Cyborg tried to ready himself for a fight, despite the constant flickering of his vision. His robotic eye must have been damaged. He hurt all over.

But Raguil's possessor never came. In fact, the sound was getting more distant.

He widened his one good eye. Now he knew why Slade was helping them.

He didn't want to stop Raguil. He wanted to drive him outside.


	25. 25: Rally

**Soulfrenzy**

**Chapter 25 – Rally**

_"Yo! BB, you out there yet?"_

Beast Boy frowned at the buzzing T-Communicator.

_I'm trying!_ he thought, though he didn't make the thought known. Hard to do when you're a cheetah sprinting down the top-floor hallway.

"_You gotta hurry man, he's going to get out any second now! If he gets to the city he's gonna-"_

"Blow it up, I know!" he snapped back, morphing into his human form. He couldn't help but retort just a little, even if it slowed him down. "Are you even going? You're the one down there!"

"_Starfire's gone catatonic,"_ Cyborg remarked gravely. _"And the others are unconscious. You just gotta delay him, I'll get there as soon as I can."_

_Great. I have no idea what catalogic means. _He pouted, even though his fellow Titan couldn't see it. "Dude, I can't take him on my own! You remember what happened last-"

"_We. Gotta. Stop him!"_

"Fine!"

He slammed the communicator shut. As usual, he had no idea what was going on. He hadn't even known that there _was_ a situation until about thirty seconds ago. He'd be sleeping if the alarm hadn't bugged out and rang once. Just once.

He wished that somebody, if only today, would tell him what was actually going on.

It didn't take long for him to find out. Even from the top of the tower, he could hear it – the bullet-proof glass at the base of the tower exploded. The sound was muted by distance and the 6-inch window between them, but there was no mistaking the flaming creature that leapt out of the smoke and dust far below.

"Crap!"

Raguil – if it was even him anymore – hit the ground and charged on all fours toward the coast. Beast Boy looked up – all of Jump City lay across the water, shining and undamaged.

There was nothing for it.

"Aw, _man_..." he sighed. Then he ran at the tower's window. A quick shift into elephant form broke the glass with ease, followed by a transition to flying squirrel. He tilted himself forward, gliding to land just ahead of the running monster...

_Come one, Beast Boy. You've got him this time._

The creature bounded forward. Soon, it would be free.

But not before a giant green velociraptor landed right on top of it.

* * *

Starfire's eyes were open, but they seemed not to see him. Cyborg shook her again, but it had as much of an effect as his previous attempts.

"Starfire, snap out of it! He's gone!"

She finally looked at him with the faintest recognition.

"He… is?"

"Yeah, and he's gonna stay gone if we don't stop him," he continued. "You're… you're too weak to fight, Star. Stay with Robin and tell him where I went when he comes to."

He expected her to argue, but all he got was dazed consent. Something really was up with her.

"Of course," she said uncertainly, even embarrassedly. "I think that is for the best…" She nodded again, as if to confirm it to herself.

Cyborg frowned.

_Aw, Star… we'll talk about it later._

"_Target ID: Teen Titans. Command: neutralize._"

The two of them looked up suddenly; the word out of their mouths was the same.

"_What_?!"

* * *

Raven groaned as consciousness slowly returned.

_Gah… what…_

The memory flashed into her mind all at once. Raguil! The turrets! The explosion!

Head still throbbing, she rose to her hands and knees. The entire room was silent – distant sounds of turret fire and battle echoed into the cell, but no sound came from within. Where Raguil had been, only a crater and scorch marks remained.

_No,_ she thought flatly. _He's not dead. _

It was impossible. His… other side was too powerful. But he wasn't here anymore. And that was bad.

"Agh! Damn it!"

"Cyborg!"

Her eyes widened – Cyborg and Starfire were upstairs. If they were still here, maybe they were containing Raguil. And if they were…

_We haven't lost everything yet._

She felt foolish to hope, but she had learned that it was a powerful thing. She donned her hood and rose toward the shattered window of the decimated cell.

What she saw when she reached it was… unexpected. Cyborg and Starfire stood at the surveillance room's exit; a limp Robin was draped over Starfire's arm. One of Cyborg's shoulder plates was smoking from a laser shot, but it didn't stop him from firing his sonic cannon at the turrets bombarding them.

"What's going on?" Raven said as loudly as she could without shouting. She flew to their side and raised an energy shield that blocked the tower's fire.

"Raguil… he has escaped!" Starfire said exasperatedly. Her hair was plastered to her face; she was sweating. Raven didn't know that Tamaraneans _could_ sweat.

"Whoever's hacked into the tower doesn't want us getting out!" Cyborg added. "I think he wants Raguil to get out of here!"

"Then we won't let it happen," Raven said. Her tone had become dead-even. An emotional blanket fell over her; she felt her mind sharpen, and her doubts subside. She couldn't even feel them.

All she knew was that that demon was _not_ getting away.

"Azarath Metrion _Zinthos!"_

A shockwave of black energy rippled down the hallway, tearing apart anything – metal plating, turrets, support beams – in its path. The threat dealt with, she wordlessly turned toward the gaping hole in the wall beside them.

"I assume that's where Raguil went?"

Cyborg looked at her with a mix of awe and uncertainty.

"Uh, yeah, but-"

"Then let's go."

She noted the doubt in the psyches of her teammates, but they were side thoughts at the moment. She was stopping him.

"Star, you stay with Robin. Get him to us when he comes to," Cyborg said.

"Of-of course."

Their voices were already behind her. She flew through the torn and shattered walls that the demon had left in its wake.

She couldn't wait for this rematch.


End file.
